Tag Archives: sculptures

Bridge of Glass

After our lunch in Tacoma, we took a quick stroll around the area before heading home.  There is a glass museum which looks like something that will be a source for another day trip.  To get to the museum, we walked across a bridge of glass.  There were glass sculptures at one end of the bridge and, on the bridge itself, there was a roof structure that incorporated multiple glass pieces.

Mounting the glass in the roof meant that light could be let in from above and the glass was illuminated from behind.  As the daylight was drawing to a close, this meant that some nice soft light was filtering through the colors giving a great effect.  We were spot on with our timing.  When we walked back, the light was gone.

Shrines

wpid9486-AU0E0484-Edit.jpgThe reason for being in Asakusa is that there are some famous shrines there. This is a very popular tourist area and there is a market on the grounds of the shrine which is designed to suck up the cash of the passing tourists. While there are some awfully tacky things for sale, there are also some very classy artisans at work too. Quite a contrast. I am not a souvenir person so, while I paid some attention to these stalls, I was more interested in the shrines themselves.

wpid9478-AU0E0475.jpgThey are impressive structures and hugely popular. There are some massive paper lanterns at the entrance which apparently are very famous (shows what I know). They do look great. What was strange to me was that, while the main shrine was very impressive and very busy, there were a number of other buildings, sculptures and gardens in the area that were also very cool but far less busy. Everyone appears to go to the main shrine and then leave. They certainly missed out in my opinion.

Asakusa Figures

wpid9476-AU0E0472.jpgOur next part of the Tokyo exploration took us to the Asakusa district. On the way we headed through a street that had some history related, I think, to the entertainment industry. There are a number of figures that are on the street or, more appropriately on and above it. These characters represent the history of the area and adorn a number of the buildings as well as the ground. They were pretty cool to try and spot.