We eventually rolled into the Tobu Nikko train station just before 9:30 am. In the interest of not wearing myself out before the day had even started, I opted to just grab a taxi for the 6 minute drive to the Turtle Inn. I left my luggage, and my kindly hostess outlined the various highlights on a map for me, including pointing out where various convenience stores and post offices were which is handy. Map in hand, I pared down to just my tiny purse and camera and headed off to the shrines.

The sun was just peeking out as I headed into the station bound for the National Art Center. I chanced upon an add advertising a new exhibition opening today on Van Gogh, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I don’t foresee my going to Amsterdam in the next little while, so this would certainly tide me over until then. Bit of a pricier fee then the other museums I’d been to at $12, but I was soon making my way through this soaring building of metal and glass and bizarre floating concrete cones.

P-Day! So today was ultimately the impetus for my being here. Despite my enjoying taking the opportunity to toodle around Japan for a little bit, this trip was really about presenting my poster at Interspeech. I’d fallen asleep before I could do a practice run last evening, but I was up, as usual, around 5 am, which gave me plenty of opportunity to run through my poster and go over my notes.

Alas, 6am yet again for me, but it did give me a good opportunity to chat with D in Chicago as I got ready for the day. Unfortunately, the rain had not abated since yesterday, but I was determined to brave the inclement weather. On the docket for the morning was Ikebukuro—I’d read something about food theme parks in Namjatown, and I’m always game for investigating such things. Umbrella in hand, I made the walk down to Ueno Station, popping into a bakery there for a quick breakfast of croissants and a donut. I hopped onto a JR local train bound for Ikebukuro, about a 15 minute ride away.

It was another early morning, as my body seems convinced that 6 am is a perfectly acceptable wake-up time. The early hour did work out well for chatting with family on the other continent, so I was able to catch up during my morning surfage. Due to my lack of dinner last evening, I was fabulously hungry, so I popped down to the front desk and invested in a quality breakfast snack–Pocky!

My itinerary was somewhat loose, as I only had a few specific sights I wanted to hit. A quick spot of yogurt for breakfast and I was off. The Oak Hotel is conveniently located just half a block from a subway stop. I negotiated the ticket dispensing system, deciding on a not-so-cheap day pass for ¥1000, before hopping on the Ginza line bound for Shibuya. The quiet humming through the crisp white-tiled stations was a welcome change from the grungier, rickety El in Chicago.

We headed downstairs to a nearby boulangerie to pick up our breakfast, and D made a pit stop for coffee. We were soon on the metro, headed to Ile-de-la-Cité to get a glimpse at Notre Dame. We had both seen it, of course, but we thought it would be nice to have another look. There was some talk of going inside, but as we approached the square, we prudently decided against it, as the queue out the door was ridiculously long.

Once we were all loaded up, and amusedly after our hostess had warned us of the dangers of pickpockets and the like in Paris, we headed northward. It had been raining fairly heavily in the early morning, complete with thunder and lightning, but it had thankfully stopped by the time we left. We listened to tunes and enjoyed the scenery and gradually made our way back to Paris. We opted to take the A highway (a toll road), but they were wider and faster and made our drive a little less stressful.

I desperately wanted to avoid major crowds at our final chateau, so I was determined to get there before 10 am. We largely kept to schedule and were soon cruising towards Chateau de Chambord. It wasn’t long before we entered the Parc du Chambord, apparently the largest enclosed game reserve in France with red deer and wild boar wandering about.

We made our way to the nearby town of Blois. Amazingly, as we wound our way through and found a parking spot, the sun made its appearance. Fabulous timing! I wanted to try and take a look at the city from a distance, so we took a walk down in the general direction of the river, passing an impressively large cathedral on the way. The breeze along the Loire was refreshing, as we wandered over to the bridge for a few pictures.