The mother of all crossings at Shibuya- Japan Day 6

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting the electronic city, we were going to Shibuya crossing to experience the worlds most not so pedestrian pedestrian event..

There was a request from the ladies to stop two train stations earlier and walk through a market which had beauty supply stores in Harajuku area. There was yet another uniqlo store there and me and my friend both got more pants (dont ask!). There was more eye rolling from the ladies and we made a mental note that sometime an extra suitcase purchase was required before the return trip.

we did stop by a few stores to get an idea of suitcase prices and made the long walk from Harajuku to Shibuya. We spent a good 30 minutes at the crossing, going from every point to every other point with the crowd and taking pictures and time lapse videos. Was very proud of the group for holding as still as possible for the time lapse videos.

Then we tried to get food there but we were not lucky. I was also reminding that group that while they could always get something to eat in the hotel (there was a Sizzlers and Starbucks at the Tokyo dome which some group members were eyeing since we checked in), I had to deal with wet clothes that needed laundry. So off we went to the hotel. While everyone else went for dinner, I ate a packet of Parle G biscuits, grabbed change and went to the laundry in the 7th floor. Waited there for 2 hours and by the time the clothes dried and got back to the room at 11 everyone was asleep.

While we were in electronic city earlier, our driver for the next days event called us and asked us if we could be ready by 4:30 AM the following morning. We told him “no way” and said 5:30AM was the best we could do.

the video highlights of Shibuya crossing..

We were to get up at 5 and be outside the hotel at 5:30. So I came back with the laundry and crashed.. Day 7 was going to be interesting..

A thousand lingas

The previous post in this series is here..

After getting down from the reclining Buddha temple, we had a very short drive to another parking area to see the 1000 linga river.

The kings had carved a 1000 lingas and other reliefs on the rock face after blocking the river and once done, had released the river across these carvings. The idea was that the water was blessed by the gods as it flowed over their reliefs and came down as a waterfall. They also planted herbs alongside so the falling water was medicinal.

The water source is a spring and you can see it gush water out in the video at the end of the post. It was cold fresh spring water at its source!

We walked a good mile along the river till we had crossed most of the lingas and turned back. The crowd was starting to arrive.

The next two photos are Sarak taking our making a selfie and the actual selfie..

We prayed at the little Buddha shrine near the river source (which used to be a Linga at some point back in time) and walked back. The buddhist take over some 700 years ago was apparently violent in some places and peaceful in some places where kings reconciled and built temples for Vishnu and Buddha side by side to appease people. Guess we now know where the “buddha is the 10th avatar of vishnu” logic came from. In Hindu mythology the 10th avatar is yet to arrive (Kalki.. who shows up to cleanse the world and close out things).

The video does a better job for this leg of the trip than the photos..

There was a lot of water flowing in the river which meant our next stop was going to be amazing!

An evening in Naples

The previous post in this series is here..

We drove non stop from Positano to Naples. Our hotel originally gave us a scare as the route took us through some run down neighborhoods. Finally when we went inside the hotel, it was really nice. It was the Buono Hotel in an area called Poggioreale. It is actually a 25 minute drive to the city center.

The staff were courteous and told us to take the public transport if we wanted to visit the city. However the ticket booths were closed and they did not accept cards on the bus and also we waited for 15 minutes and no bus/train came. The stop was right outside the hotel.

The little one bailed on us as usual as she had to study and rest. She told us to get her dinner. We just took the car and went into the city. It was a stupid idea. Even though I had been driving in Italy the last two days, in traffic, Naples evening traffic on a Saturday evening is a nightmare. Apparently there was a huge concert happening downtown in the city center. Roads were blocked. We did find parking near the castle. I have never been more proud of a parking job in my life. Jackie Chan would have been proud after seeing that parking job.

Then we walked to the castle. It was meh. So we did not bother to get tickets and go in. Just walked around it. Then came the Galleria. It was just amazing. This is one beautiful building. The photos and pano's are not fair to the place. Go see it for yoursef. We also visited a beautiful church in the city center and walked in Via Toledo which was surprisingly open to pedestrian traffic. Cops had blocked off a lot of roads for the concert.

Even though I took pictures of those strawberries and other foods on display, could not eat anything except the gelato. Thank god I am not allergic to chocolate!

our hotel.. which is actually really nice inside. Very close to airport. Don’t be shocked by Apple maps which says it is 20 mins away. It is 5 mins away in the morning at 4:30AM.

Photos from our walk around Naples city..

Some of these photos were DNG file for some reason and what I see on my phone is not what I get after saving it. Have to figure it out later. The shadows are dark!

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This is where we got dinner from. It was really good!

After this we went to the third attaction which was closed thanks to the concert. Finally ate some gelato made from buffalo milk and got dinner from a busy restaurant. It was time to drive back. We used the breakfast area to eat our dinner. The staff said “go ahead. not a problem”. It was an early dinner. We had already packed for the most part.

The two panos from this walk..

The Umberto Galleria is massive!

A video highlights reel..

We had a 6:30 AM flight from Naples to Rome, a 2 hour wait in Rome and a flight from Rome to SFO. We tried to leave at 4:30 to the airport. It took us under 10 minutes to get to the car return area. It took a lot longer to figure out where to drop the key and then walk to the airport from there. It is a good 15 minute walk lugging the carry ons.

We did have a little fiasco where we got seprated from the kids and they did not show up at the gate. Gate D22 is off to some side in the airport and we were trying to get our money back on taxes paid at a kiosk. That process took too long (that counter opens late and there was a line) so we gave up and when we showed up at the gate, the kids were missing. Their phone died etc.. everything you can expect to go wrong and does.. Finally they showed up and we were off.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Alitalia airlines was decent. First time flying in that but the food, entertainment and service was great. San had upgraded to economy plus as a surprise for the family! Given how tired we all were.

We were all smiles. The overall rating on this trip was an A+. Something for everyone, narrow escapes with sickness, falls, but on the whole made it back in one piece.