I had quite the adventure this morning but it was worth it! I took 30+ minutes and 4 attempts but I finally found an ATM machine and 3 attempts and a phone call later, I got some money out of it. Then I hailed a cab (had to look up online how to do that in Tokyo…learned a lot about taxi riding in general as well). I wanted to get to the National Garden, which has a cherry tree area. My taxi driver and I both had Google Translate on our phones but he still had to call the office to find out how to get to the back gate of the garden where the cherry trees were. We made it! I paid the modest entrance fee and picked up a very helpful map that shows many different varieties of cherry trees and where they’re located in the garden. Went to the cherry tree area, took some pics, breathed in some cherry tree air and watched cherry petals floating down like snow flakes. Then I left and used Google Translate to ask where to get a taxi. My first cab dropped me off in a “no taxi pick up or drop off zone” so I knew I couldn’t return there. Had to walk down to the nearest train station and there I finally found a taxi stand. Made it back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare for meeting the bus to the ship. The whole adventure took 90+ minutes for 5 minutes in the garden, but it was worth it.
