Day 2: The Imperial Palace and Nijubashi

After our first night in Japan, we didn't feel jet-lagged at all anymore and our enthusiasm was back as well. We began our second day in Japan unhurriedly, first checking out the conbini "Family Mart" which was located right next to the hotel and offered a variety of goods. I bought Melonpan, which - to me - tasted like German cookie dough or crumble cake. So yummy! 

Then, we walked to the Imperial Palace, seeing lots of interesting places and buildings on our way. 

Here, I bought a drink called "Mugi Tea" or something like that, and it tasted horrible (at first)! But after drinking the entire bottle, it was okay. :P 

  

We also found a tourist information center, which reminded us of the fact that we still hadn't bought the grutt pass yet. So we went in and asked in our best Japanese "Gurutto pasu ga arimasu ka?", and the friendly girl behind the counter was really surprised about the fact that we asked her in Japanese. She told us that they didn't sell the grutt pass here and that we could buy it in the facility in which we first wanted to use the pass. She also showed us a sheet with lots of information on it, though we had to admit that we could speak and understand basic Japanese but reading was a problem. She nodded and brought us a sheet with English information on it. She was so nice! :) 

Then, we continued our walk to the Imperial Palace, although we were not sure whether we were still on the right path. 

This was approximately the route we took

Then we finally reached the park area, surrounded by stone walls and moats in which swans were swimming. Here, we took a short break to eat some melonpan.

In the background, you can even see the top of Tokyo Tower.

Then we reached Koukyo Gaien, the large plaza in front of the Imperial Palace, where we saw many tour groups. Here, while we were trying to take a selfie of ourselves on which we were both visible - which was easier said than done -, a Japanese guy (who was probably some years older than us) approached us and asked "Can I take photo?". At first, we thought he wanted to help us and take a photo with our camera of us, but instead, he waved his mother nearer. Then, he placed himself between Chrissi and I and his mother took a photo of the three of us! Of course, we were somewhat perplexed than, but oh well! 

We crossed the plaza and took some pictures of Nijubashi, the bridges there. We had to wait a while until it was our turn, though, because there were many tourists there. 

Afterwards, we sat down on a bench and relaxed a bit before continuing our plans and searching for a metro station, since our next destination was Tokyo Tower.