Ikebukuro and the Sunshine Aquarium

Today we took the Seibu Chichibu limited express train to Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo.  Miki's mom dropped us off and Miki met us there.  I learned how to buy the base passenger ticket and the premium express upgrade ticket, and how to read the train line maps and time schedules.  It sounds easy, but the train lines in and around Tokyo are very complex and intricate.

We had lunch and Aiden got a kids meal with hot dogs cut into little octopus.  Miki said it is very common in Japan for kids food to be cut into shapes.  Greg had a traditional Omurice which is seasoned rive and some vegetables wrapped in an omelet and covered with different kids of sauce.  I had a pasta dish in traditional Japanese soups/sauce.

After lunch we went to a little kid land for Aiden and he played in the ball pit and slides.  We then walked over to the Sunshine building and visited the aquarium.  Aiden loved seeing all the fish and he especially liked the jelly fish room which had a underwater tunnel so the jellyfish swam above your head!  That building also has a planetarium and Greg Aiden and I will come back by ourselves on day to visit it.

The train ride between Ikebukuro and Chichibu is very scenic through the mountains and little picturesque villages.  I was told that is is not uncommon to see wild monkeys on the trip.  Unfortunately we didn't see any but maybe next time we will be lucky!