Wandering around Shinjuku (Thurs 2/18)

Today I woke up to see snow falling outside the window. That was a nice start for the day. After about an hour or so it stopped snowing, but a little had accumulated (which then mostly melted after another couple hours)



Then once I had gotten ready, I headed out to walk over to Shinjuku station. I decided to walk because I hadn't been to this part of Shinjuku before, and hadn't realized that there was a giant park called Shinjuku Gyoen. So I wandered through there a bit. I saw a cat chilling on a little mat someone had left for him. He meowed a bit in protest when I pointed the camera at him, but I took the shot anyway.



Then inside the park I found a pond, some trees that were already in bloom and stayed a bit to take some more pictures.











I wasn't the only one that was taking advantage of this relatively clear day





And a bird that was enjoying the scenery, as well



Then I left the park and spent the next 5 or 6 hours wandering around the eastern part of Shinjuku. I stopped into Shinjuku station to grab a cup of coffee at one point, but I realized at around 4:30 that I hadn't eaten anything today, so I dropped into a little restaurant and had some ramen (no pic .. sorry). Then I headed back to the apartment to rest; I was exhausted at this point. And I ended up just falling asleep until around 10pm. Then I watched some TV and went to sleep again. Tomorrow I need to get going early to make sure I get out to Mitaka by noon (my appointment at the Ghibli museum =)

By the way, since I got here, and I've been walking for a solid week, I've lost another 5 pounds ... woo hoo!

Oh, and I posted most of the photos here, but here's a link to the while photo set.