"This is What Heaven Has Got to Be Like!!"

 

Tuesday, March 31st--After we went through the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens, we took a train over to Chiyoda.  This is the area of Tokyo where the Imperial Gardens are, where Raymond's job is located, and where a Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) was being held at Yasukuni Shrine.

There were so many people, it was hard to keep track of all of the kids as we roamed through the matsuri looking at all of the food.  We hadn't eaten much all day and we were all starving!

It's always fun to wander around and look at the different food available in the booths during festivals.  Here we have traditional okonomiyaki.....

...and we also saw it on a stick--we haven't yet seen it with an egg on it like that!

Takoyaki.

There were tables set up under some blossoms, the perfect spot to enjoy the wonderful food.

We got some good stuff to share!  Starting with the food in front of Audra and working counter-clockwise: sweet potato fries, some dumplings that tasted a lot like gyoza, cream-filled bread (we got cheese, cream, strawberry and apple and shared them; oh, so good!), those chicken filled pancakes that we had at daruma doll festival in February, and takoyaki. 

After we had our fill of the delicious food, we wandered around and then went across the street to where we were going to see some truly spectacular cherry blossoms.

Across the street from Yasukuni Shrine is the boundary for the Imperial Palace grounds. (in this picture is a gate keep for the palace)  This particular section of the moat that surrounds the palace grounds is flanked on either side by trees that fairly burst with blooms at this time of year.  This is a spot celebrated nationwide for the magnificent view that can be found here during this time of year.  It was a place that we definitely didn't want to miss this week during sakura. 

 

We walked along the street for a bit, enjoying the view of the blossoms along the moat.  By this time, the kids had been walking most of the day and were really tired.

We had an hour before sunset, so we found some benches to sit on.  We rested, played hand games, ate snacks, and watched people go by.  While we were sitting around, the girls put a blossom in Kirstin's hair.  Cute.

Promptly at sunset, the lights that are placed strategically along the moat and down the pathway that runs parallel to it came on and projected their light onto the blossoms that seemed to surround us.

This is what we were waiting for, and the kids were now rested, so we joined the crowd and began to walk down the path and enjoy the breathtaking views.  Because this is such a popular place to enjoy the blossoms, there are suffocating crowds here during the sakura--and we were here during peak bloom time.  We didn't really walk down the path.  It was more of a shuffle because of how many people were here.

As the crowd shuffled along, everyone was busy taking pictures of the blossoms.

The moon made its appearance for the evening and was smiling down at us through the branches.

We happened upon a small break in the crowd, so we took a quick picture.

We had beautiful white blossoms lit up with lights along the moat to the left of us, and beautiful white blossoms lit up above our heads.  It was so magical and wonderful.....one of the most breathtaking sights any of us have ever witnessed. 

As we were shuffling along, mouths agape in awe, Christopher said something that pretty much summed up this experience.  He said, "This is what Heaven has got to be like!  There just has to be cherry blossoms in Heaven just like this, and they just have to be lit up like this...only not with lights, but with God's glory."

As we walked along the path, we came to a spot where we could see Tokyo Tower through the tree branches.  Oh, wow!  It just doesn't get any prettier than that.  Stunning!

Truly.

Looking up....

Near the end, we found some boats out in the moat....no one was in them.  Darn, that would have been fun.  Even if we had seen them earlier though, I'm not sure I would have dared to take all seven of the kids out on boats without another adult to help.

Looking down the pathway along the moat.

About halfway down, Audra started whining.  It was getting to be bedtime and she had been on her feet most of the day, so I put her on my shoulders (I know, I know...that's how she broke her collarbone.  I held on tight to her feet, trust me!)  and let her hang out there.  She was only up there for a few minutes before she fell right asleep!  She just bent over and started snoring in my ear!  Poor thing!

 Another moon picture.

What an amazing place!  Words cannot describe the beauty that we beheld tonight as we shuffled along and took in the magnificent views.  I think that Christopher said it best:  This is what Heaven MUST look like!!