Our first trip into Tokyo @ 22weeks pregnant

First off, here's a horrible picture of me at 22weeks pregnant. Please excuse the look on my face- I was trying to take the picture myself. I look horrible and have no make-up on, but the important part is you can see my bump!

Now, onto the fun stuff. Yesterday we took our first trip into Tokyo! We went with some friends that are also stationed here, my brother's friend from h.s. and his wife, Matt and Amanda. They have been here since November, so they know their way around a little bit better than we do! We walked to the Fussa station to get on the train. First we went to Shinjuku and walked around a bit. That area has lots of big, tall buildings and shopping. You can see some of the buildings here:

After walking a bit, we got back on the train and went a few more stops to Shibuya. This huge crosswalk is here, and as you can see there are TONS of people in Tokyo. I really thought it was like that just in movies. Nope, it's real! There are TONS of people in this country and you have to keep up with your group or you could easily get separated. It isn't scary though, just a neat experience. 

We also stopped here at a pub for a bit. The boys and Amanda each got a beer. I was out of control with my coke- ha! Things here are expensive- the beers were $11.00 each, and my coke was $5. Tokyo isn't a cheap city to live in (another reason we live on base! Here's a pic of the view of the street from the pub:

After that we rode the train over to Harajuku and walked around a bit more. This area is known for the eccentric crowd- those who dress crazy and out of control. Think Anime characters, or maybe Super Mario Brothers. We saw a few, although they weren't really out in force yesterday. Neat area to explore though, and there is lots of shopping there too. 

After exploring Harajuku a bit, we went back down to Shibuya for dinner. Here are Matt and Amanda walking to the restaurant. We met some of Matt and Amanda's friends down there and we all went to this Brazilian steakhouse place, called Barbacoa. It was expensive but delicious!!! There was a huge salad bar to get all kinds of things off of- veggies, salads, etc. And all thru dinner guys would come by with various kinds of meat on skewers and just cut pieces off to eat, like this one here:

Here is the menu, showing the various cuts of meat they offered. We ate and ate and ate. It was GOOOOOOD!!! 

We had a great day and it was fun to get out of the wire and explore a bit. We enjoyed ourselves and are excited to get out again soon!