After our venture to the fish market we headed off to Shitamachi Museum at Ueno Park. This was a great place. Small, but GREAT! We were even given a personal tour from an English speaking guide. The museum illustrated how people lived in the Edo period. It was really nice because you could "touch and feel" everything. I like to look with my hands, not my eyes! There were also lots of games you could sit and play and we took the time to enjoy them. 

On the way to Ueno Park we stopped at the tourist desk at the subway station. The people there were a wealth of information and we left with all sorts of ideas for places to visit in the coming days. 

When we left the museum, we were planning to go to a soba restaurant that was recommended by the tourist rep. She pointed it out on our map and it appeared to be right next door to the museum.... We never found it, but instead ate ramen (good ones this time) at a place where you look at the picture, choose a number, pay in a machine and hand your ticket to the cook. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we strolled through the outdoor market where you are supposed to bargain... we didn't take our chances, but instead we bought some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. They were tiny in comparison to chestnuts in the US. Nearly half the size, but tasty if you like chestnuts... I do not! Mom does.

It was a pretty sunny day, so we decided to walk through Ueno Park. The plum trees were in blossom and there were plenty of street performers out and about. We watched a two man band "Dot and Line" --made up of a drummer and fiddler.. pretty funny! Then we walked on to see a balloon guy who whipped up a giant blue and white bugs bunny in less than 5 minutes and finally we watched a story teller robot who was very very flexible in the legs. That was GREAT!