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View from Fukuoka’s Hilton Sea Hawk Hotel of Fukuoka Tower (福岡タワー)
I thought about wandering over to the Fukuoka Tower for an aerial view of Fukuoka, but the view from the top of the Sea Hawk was similar, uncrowded (just me!), and free.
not exactly from 市川のアイリンクタウンの展望室
Following a tip I received online I took a train from central Tokyo to the city of Ichikawa to the east of Tokyo. There is a 45-story building in Ichikawa (called I-Line Town) that towers above everything around it and provides a potentially spectacular free view of Tokyo, including the Sky Tree. Unfortunately, the free observation deck is behind thick, hazy glass, and there are numerous things on the other side of the glass that obstruct the otherwise impressive view.
On the day I went it was extremely humid so I couldn’t see much of anything in Tokyo from the 展望室. For best results go in the early morning or at dusk.
The best view was the one shown in today’s photo which was from the glass elevator, not the room with the view, which looked toward a less humid portion of Tokyo (Ichikawa 市川市 actually).
The tip, by the way, came from this photo which I saw on Flickr.
Tokyo from Ebisu Garden Place Tower
My favorite place to view Tokyo is Ebisu Garden Place Tower. There are other free locations in Tokyo, but they are frequently crowded, you can’t get right next to the windows, or the glass is so old that the view is no longer very clear. Some of the restaurants on the top two floors of this building aren’t very expensive either.
Hinomaru Driving School (日の丸自動車学校) from Ebisu Garden Place Tower
Driving schools in Japan are big business. Unlike the USA, where most drivers pay little or nothing to learn how to drive and get a drivers license, Japanese drivers typically pay $3,000 – $5,000 to go to driving school and obtain a license. That’s assuming they pass on their first attempt. It costs even more if they don’t pass and then go back to driving school, etc. So it should come as no surprise that the schools can be fairly elaborate affairs in fancy buildings with color-coded cars, driving courses, etc.
The driving school in today’s photo is walking distance from the Ebisu and Meguro Stations in Tokyo.
Shasta Lake from the air
The last time we drove past Lake Shasta (last month) there wasn’t much water in it. Today’s photo is from late last May when it was near capacity. Hopefully there will be some rain (and snow on Mt. Shasta) soon or California’s largest reservoir will be mostly dry.
Tivoli from Copenhagen City Hall Clock Tower
Another photo today from Copenhagen’s City Hall Clock Tower.