Farewell Tokyo, hello Paris

Just like home.....I wonder if the sushi is just as bad as the hot dogs in the states

Tuesday 7/12 8:45pm Tokyo time- Sitting in the Air France business lounge, sipping on French wine, eating cheese and sushi and getting ready for another 14 hour flight.  Ok, this flight is not 14 hours- only 13 hours and 40 minutes.

Interesting tidbit to share with my fellow frequent flyers- As a frequent guest of the Delta Sky Club in the states the first thing I noticed here is that as soon as the door opens the desk agents stand up and greet you coming in. WOW!  There have been many times in the states where you stand in front of the agent for 2-3 minutes before they even acknowledge you are alive and breathing in front of them.

That has been my biggest take away from my short stay here in Tokyo- the work ethic and the absolute way they make you feel special.  The concierge staff all stood in front of their desks and bowed and thanked me for staying as I left.  Incredible.  In state side hotels you are often lucky if they even look up as you leave.  In a little restaurant for lunch today this experience typifies what I am talking about: I walked up to the counter to pay my bill and the waitress/cashier came at a near run rushing over and apologizing for my having to wait the 15 seconds for her to race across the room.
But that is a soapbox diatribe for another day.

The menus in the little shops that do not have many tourists still have picture menus- not often very helpful, especially if the staff did not know the english word for the protein type substance in the dish.  As long as there were no eyes on the plate or in the bowl staring back at me- all good.

yeah, not sure what the hell it is either...but it was good.

Interesting ride from downtown Tokyo to the airport in Narita which took about 90 minutes and went from the throngs of a city with 13 million people to farms with rice fields and trees lining both sides of the highway.  Along the way we passed the Tokyo Disney Resort complex, Ikea, and this last one made me think of home- a Costco.  Or as mom and dad would say Costco's.  Love you mom and dad.

In 3 days I have many instances where people would see me looking at my maps to figure out where I was and where I was going (no snickering please) and people would attempt to help me and luckily most of them spoke at least a little english.  On several occasions I would approach total strangers to ask where I was if the signs were in Japanese and they would help me to get pointed in the right direction.

A very positive experience and I would love to come and spend more time in Japan if I ever get the opportunity.  I would also highly recommend the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel as well, excellent staff and service.  I will be staying at the Park Hyatt Paris Verdome hotel so it will interesting to see if they provide the same level of service.

At the entrance to the Washington Hotel.  The inscription was in Japanese, so I will be having a contest to write the caption.

The Park Tower- the Hyatt is in the tower on the left

Not unusual to have whole blocks filled with bicycles