From Temples to Cheap Scape Bowling!

We planned for July to be a pretty quiet month, as we had big plans for August. So we basically worked non-stop for the whole month, taking only about 4 days off in total.

A little bit of sightseeing was done and we made our way in the scorching heat to see Meiji Jingu. Yet another shrine, except this one is probably the closest famous one to our house, as it stands just between Shibuya and Harajuku. So as we slugged there in the 35 degree heat, we did one of the quickest sightseeing trips ever, about 10 mins spent at the shrine... or less! The only difference to this one is that it looks a lot newer than some others.... probably due to the restoration in 1958 after the WWII bombings.

Le Grande Entrance

Yet again, more sake barrels at the sacred shrines

A bit of originality... some wine barrels

It's very unusual to see wine at Japanese shrines. The Meiji emperor adopted lots of Western culture and practices, so the French government donated these barrels in memory of him.

The variety with this shrine... the placid colours of white and green roofing

It was gorgeous in a temple kind of way, but not enough to keep us in the heat. So we headed to Harajuku and cooled the hell down in a restaurant!

In the blazing heat, can desperately needed to get some summer gear.. as wearing jeans was finally taking it's toll on Cam.... finally! So we bought about 4 funky pairs of shorts for him!

A window display.... still not sure if it's good or just disturbing

Some usual Harajuku stylin'

All that aside, we still managed to find time to get loose. We met Stefan for a quiet dinner of Okonomiyaki in Shibuya, and felt the urge to go bowling.

We stocked up on cheap Chu-hi's and had a few games. As is expected these days, the game went pear-shaped very quickly with Cam and Stefan getting up to the usual antics of double ball bowling and sliding down the alley.

For some reason that night we didn't feel like settling our bill, so the boys sent Sophi outside so they could plan their escape route. The boys obviously didn't plan it very well because they went running down the stairs instead of using the lift and ended up out on the street getting chased down the street by the staff.

As they ran off down the road Stefan was tackled by the staff so Cam had to run back to help him up and bolt in the other direction.

After we all met up together again, we went for a bite to eat at a family restaurant and ended an expected night much later than we had planned to.