Linus and Emma at the Louvre

After we had spent a few hours at the beach we went home to recharge and then it was time for some culture again. It was time for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, another must here in the capital.

Linnea was happy to come along, so she provided some extra entertainment for Sixten.

Emma and the da Vinci painting 'La Belle Ferronière':

We had a look in the new animal themed exhibit in the Childrens Museum part of the Louvre as well. It's interactive and super fun for the kids, and the adults...

And since the current temporary exhibition is called 'Japanese connections', they had a Manga Lab in the basement, with VR experiences, retro arcade games, manga studios etc.

Japan, Day 10 - Homeward bound

Our last day was pretty much just one long traveling day. We flew from Haneda International to Hong Kong, then had five hours on the ground there before we finally got into our comfy seats on the Etihad flight for the final stretch home.
Aaaaand... relax... the obligatory champagne shot!

I loved Japan! In many ways Japan turned out to be pretty much exactly like I had imagined it to be; but at the same time it surprised me so much - in a good way!
That our holiday became so successful was all thanks to Misuzu though, she planned so many super fun activities and a fantastic itinerary for us; we saw and experienced so much and have brought home a huge amount of amazing memories.
Thank you Misuzu! ♥︎

Japan, Day 9 - Tokyo, Imado Jinja Shrine

We had tempura for lunch on our last day in Tokyo, yum yum. Actually, I managed to go through the whole week without eating anything western - it was all about the sushi, noodles, ramen, onigiri, tempura, miso soup and okonomiyaki (a savory Japanese pancake especially associated with Osaka). Om nom nom! I could easily just live off Japanese food - for always!

Our last visit in Tokyo was to the Imado Jinja Shrine. The maneki-neko, the well-known 'beckoning cat' figurine, is believed to have originated at this shrine.

This shrine is also the top love shrine in Tokyo, on account of the fact that it enshrines a deity couple: Izanagi and Izanami who are said to be Japan's first married couple. The fences around the area were bulging with these ema plaques conveying the hopes and prayers of the aspiring romantics. The ones at this shrine had a rare round shape:

Japan, Day 9 - Tokyo, Asakusa

We did wear the kimonos while having morning tea though. Misuzu had read about this very special café in her brand new Tokyo guide book, which served up yummy pancake stacks. So off we went on a walk-about to try and find it.

It was a really nice walk as our search took us through all the small little backstreets of the area, it was so pretty!

We found it! Look at that huge stack!

And the smallest and cutest little milk jug I've ever seen!

The Tokyo Skytree, the second tallest (643 meters) all structure in the world after Burj Khalifa.

We kept walking down into the narrow little streets with shops and specialist shops of kimonos, dolls, haircombs, fans and other souvenirs etc.

Misuzu wanted us to try the traditional Japanese "fish game", where you caught (and released) goldfish with a special paper scooper called a poi. Lucas and I didn't do any good at all, we broke our poi straight away; but Linnea managed to catch two fish!

The last groupie in our pretty clothes!