TOKYO - OCTOBER, 2013

This was my fourth trip to Tokyo, so I have seen almost all of the local tourist sights. This trip I visited several places that I had never been to before. From my hotel in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo I had always had a view over the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which was just a short walk from the hotel, but which I had never visited. The garden is like a large park, and always looked very beautiful from the hotel. This is a view from the hotel elevator [which has a glass wall for viewing.]

I spent an entire morning walking through the garden, which had several dedicated areas of different gardens, such as an English landscaped garden, a French formal garden, a Japanese traditional garden, and a forested area called the Mother and Child Forest. After entering the park you followed paved paths throughout the various areas of the park. Here you can see the pathways, and at the first open meadow area, the city buildings in the background. My hotel, the Century Southern Tower, is the white building in the middle of the last picture.

Shortly after entering the park you come to a large, modern, greenhouse which displays more tropical plants in a very beautiful landscaped display that included streams and ponds.

Walking through the park I occasionally came upon groups of schoolchildren on a field trip to the park. As is always the case in Japan, each class wore a distinctive colored baseball cap or t-shirt to distinguish them from the other groups.

These photos are of the French formal garden portion of the park.

My favorite area of the park was the traditional Japanese Garden area, which included a very nice Japanese teahouse.

The final area of the park that I visited was the Mother and Child's Forest area, which was the area of the park closest to the area of Shinjuku where my hotel was located.

In previous visits to Tokyo the view from my hotel room had always looked to the east over the Gyoen National Garden, but on this visit my room was on the north side of the building looking to the north, over the busy area of Shinjuku.

On Sunday of my week long stay in Tokyo I took a day trip with my friend, Chikako, to Yokohama which is about one hour by train south of Tokyo. We visited the Sankeien Garden, which was the former estate of a wealthy silk merchant. The garden was in a hilly, forested area outside of the downtown area, overlooking Tokyo Bay. We followed the paths throughout the park like setting and viewed the lake [stocked with Japanese koi], the pagoda, and the former residence of the owner. It was very beautiful, and hard to believe it was right on the edge of such a large city.

After touring the garden we took a bus back to the downtown area of Yokohama, and after having a great Japanese meal, walked through a park which overlooked Tokyo Bay. There were lots of families out enjoying the beautiful weather, and most surprising of all, several thousand people at a large Octoberfest celebration, partying with beer drinking and dancing to polka music!

 
I always enjoy my visits to Tokyo, as it is one of my favorite cities in the world, and I look forward to returning soon.

OSLO - SEPTEMBER, 2013

I traveled from Stockholm, Sweden to Oslo, Norway by train. The trip lasted about seven hours, and traveled through areas of forests, farmlands, lakes and rivers. It was very beautiful, and afforded me a great view of Sweden and Norway outside of the main cities. Oslo is the capital of Norway, and has a population of about 500,000 people. It is located at the head of a 60 mile long fjord, and the city lies right on the water, surrounded by forested hills. My hotel was located near to the royal palace, and the embassy area of the city, so it was very quiet and less busy and crowded than the downtown area which was a 10 minute walk away. This is a view from my hotel window.

My hotel was a short walk from the Royal Palace which was surrounded by a large park. It was a very nice area, with many embassies on the surrounding streets.

Unfortunately, the weather, which had been warm and sunny throughout my trip, changed the last two days that I spent in Oslo. It became cold, windy and rainy, so it was much more of a challenge to be out and about seeing the sights. The downtown area of Oslo was a 15 minute walk from my hotel, and was the area of most of the sights to see in Oslo. In that area one could see the Oslo City Hall,

the Oslo Cathedral, built in 1627, and the location of royal weddings and funerals,

the Parliament Building,

the National Theater,

the National Gallery,

a statue in front of the City Hall Building,

all of which were within several blocks of the harbor, with a view to the islands in the fjord.

On my last day in Oslo I traveled throughout the city and the surrounding mountains on the trams and subways. I went up the mountains surrounding Oslo to the site of the 1952 Winter Olympic games to view the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, and a beautiful view over the city [unfortunately obscured by rain and clouds.]

I finished the day by riding the tram to Frogner Park, a 75 acre park which contains the lifetime of work by Norway's greatest sculptor, Gustav Vigeland, who made a deal with the city of Oslo in 1921, that in return for a great studio, and financial support from the state, he would spend his creative life beautifying Oslo with this sculpture garden.

Oslo was the last stop on my 10 day tour of Scandinavia. I had a wonderful time, and enjoyed visiting Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Norway on this trip. All of the countries were very beautiful, and the people friendly. I would enjoy returning again in the future.