Landed safely at Paris, Charles De Gaulle airport and having refreshments and a chill out as we have a few hours to wait before the next flight home. 

Everyone is fine and strangely full of life considering its 2.30am in Tokyo!

See you all soon-landing at 10.05pm.

 Safe and sound at Narita Airport waiting to board in half an hour!

Stressful moments! 

1. It took 3 adults to sit on each case to close it.... so stand back when you undo the locks and zips!

2. We had to walk for 25 minutes to get to the underground station for the train we needed and half way there Annabel's wheel came off her case!

3. Mrs Fellowes-Prynne nearly collapsed on the platform when she asked a train guard about the next train to Narita Airport and he said "No train!! Accident on line!" What he really meant was that there had been a delay of 10 minutes!

4. Morgan having a major panic attack because he had packed his pyjamas in his hand luggage and thought he would get into trouble at the airport hand baggage check point????

THANK YOU to all the parents for trusting us to take your children on this adventure. We have got to know them very well and each one has shown us that they are talented children with great personalities.

  

See you all in approximately 19 hours!

Parents-please note. Cameras have been lost under piles of clothes, left uncharged and memories randomly deleted by accident!! Not such a bad thing since some of the pictures were a bit suspect-do you really want a photo of a Japanese rubbish bin? But don't worry! Staff have hundreds of fabulous photos and all feature your children. Mr Coates will be compiling a disc of everything we have for you to keep. 

Next we headed for Ueno Park where there are lots of different museums and........the zoo!

Ueno Zoo has recently brought in 2 giant pandas from China and everyone was very keen to see the real thing.....not the floral version!

We made a quick stop at the statue of the Last Samurai and walked through the park in brilliant sunshine. 

There were lots of street acts and performers to watch but the best was a musical group called RAKUTAKEDAN, 4 musicians who played lots of different instruments all made from bamboo. They were amazing to listen to but when they played The Little Mermaid, Mr Coates and Miss Dobbin started to dance and we all got so embarrassed that we decided to move on!!

The zoo was fantastic! Mrs Fellowes-Prynne loved it because it was free for school children! First stop the Giant Pandas! They were gorgeous!

 We just loved watching them because they were very funny!
They lay in the strangest of poses!

 Riley just couldn't stop laughing!

 Next the monkeys-Nathans favourite!

 Then we saw a poster for a red, furry animal. Nathan and Morgan said it was a red panda. Mrs Fellowes-Prynne said "Rubbish-I've never heard of them!"

 After 2 hours of argument......she was wrong!! Look at Nathan's face!

 There was so much to see and do-lots of different animals from polar bears to giraffes, hippos and zebras and even big metal ostriches!

 One of the highlights was the Petting Zoo....Thomas had a go at braiding the goats beard!!

 Annabel found a friend who wouldn't leave her alone!

 Aaron nearly had his coat nibbled by this little Billy.

 The penguins were another great favourite.

 Riley.....it's not REAL!!

 There was also a wolf with the longest legs ever.....we nicknamed it Chloe!!

 And Shannon just loved the flamingoes because they are her favourite colour.

There was so much to see and do so we stayed all afternoon until the zoo closed at 5pm. Then we took our last train back to Asakusa for dinner in a Japanese restaurant. Finally we headed for home to pack up our suitcases for an early start tomorrow.

We can't believe our Japanese adventure is over! We are very sad to be leaving Tokyo but we are also very excited to see you at the airport tomorrow night. Everyone agreed that they just need a big hug from their families!!

Tuesday morning and it's our last day in Tokyo before we fly back home to you. We spent the day in Ueno, an area not far from Asakusa.......

so Mrs Fellowes-Prynne made us walk there!!

We visited the maze of street markets where there are loads of fish stalls selling the most amazing sea creatures. 

Would we want to eat them? Nobody seemed keen!

 Thomas looked grim but Mrs Jackson looked positively ill!!

The fishmonger tried to tempt Morgan with an octopus tentacle but he was having none of it.

After the fish markets we went to the Shitamachi Museum. This is a tiny gem, which Mrs Wigg and I found last time we visited Tokyo, and is a bit like a mini Beamish. It is packed with information about the lifestyle of people in the past in Tokyo.

 Thomas makes a very fetching 19th century rickshaw puller.

 Morgan and Nathan set to work in the farm house......

 ....while Finn "broomsticked" the floor in the town house.

 Megan tried out the old blacksmith's workshop.....

 .....and Aaron made tea on a very old fashioned Japanese stove.

On the second floor there were lots of great Japanese games from many years ago. We spent over an hour playing and puzzling but unfortunately were not allowed to take any photographs!!

We took the little train back to Tokyo that hangs off the bottom of the Rainbow Bridge and got off at......

THE POKEMON CENTRE!!

Finn and Annabel were in their element!

Riley just smiled even more than usual!!

Then it was off home to bed to dream about Pikachu!!

Apologies for the late blog but the internet here has had 

Mrs FP reduced to tears!!

After coming down to earth we took a cruise down the Sumida River from Asakusa to Odaiba. 

There are so many things to see and do on this small island!

However we had to spend a very boring half hour while the teachers shopped at Uniqlo!! Mrs Fellowes-Prynne bought her next 10 years supply of old lady, thermal, polo neck tops! She wanted to go in this shop as well but we said there wasn't enough room in the suitcases for everything she would need! 

When we went outside it was dark and the lights everywhere were just amazing! Unfortunately the Rainbow Bridge was just the white bridge!! Maybe Chopwell's Green Ambassadors had been around saving power! 

But it didnt stop us from enjoying the Music and Light shows going on everywhere, especially the Sony Centre.

There was even a mini Statue of Liberty!!

And an amazing flight of 400 light show stairs!! Chopwell Smurfs!!

Monday morning and everyone was sad as Mrs Watanabe had to fly home to go back to school in London.

GOODBYE Mrs Watanabe Sensei!!

So we cheered ourselves up by going SHOPPING!! 

On the Nakamise-dori we bought lots of Japanese gifts and tasted lots of free snacks!! Finn is our chief taster-he is brilliant and will have a go at anything! Top marks Finn! These little cakes are filled with sweet bean paste and are made in a funny little machine in the shop-it was like something from Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Then we were off to the Tokyo Sky Tree!!

We waited in a queue worthy of any Disney theme park at the height of summer then a super fast lift whisked us up into the sky.

When we got to the top the views were breathtaking!

The best was the glass floor! 350 metres down to the ground didn't stop the boys from putting on a glass floor show! 

WOW! It was amazing!

After eating we took the JR over ground train line to Harajuku. There we visited the famous Meiju Jingu- a huge shrine and temple in the centre of a forest in the middle of Tokyo!! We washed our hands in the traditional way before entering.

The temple grounds are enormous-set in a huge square.

We all paid our respects at the temple by giving an offering of money, bowing twice, clapping twice and bowing again.

After the temple came SHOPPING!! In Harajuku we walked down Takashita Street with lots of unusual Tokyo shops including a 100 yen store-the cases will be bulging!!

We also visited the Japanese Bazaar where the teachers bought most of their gifts-we just sat on the steps outside and 'people watched'!!

Next came 'Kiddiland'! 6 floors of toys and mechanical gizzmos!! A paradise for children and adults! However Morgan and Nathan just wanted a cuddly teddy-no room in the cases !

Finally we headed for Shibuya where the lights are ultra bright and the crossing is both scary and hilarious all at once-thousands of people all crossing the road together but going in different directions!

Then we rounded off the day in a Japanese karaoke bar. Everyone sang their hearts out and 2 hours just whizzed by. Mrs Wigg-I'm sorry but Mr Coates beats you hands down for out of tune crooning that makes everyone cover their ears!!