We sent our suitcases to Osaka today, via the trusty old 7Eleven! We lugged our massive and heavy suitcases down the street, and they take care of the rest! Tomorrow we take the train to Kyoto, and spend two nights there with only our hand luggage. I say “only”, but it’s a lot…
Once that was done, we headed towards teamlab planets, which is an art experience. Because our tickets were for 12pm, we had time to explore the area around the station, and I had googled my way to a place called Butter. They had all sorts of pancakes, including the famous Japanese soufflé pancakes, which came in a tower! Maylin got a kids pancake set, Téa opted for baked potato wedges, and Joe and I split the soufflé experience. These pancakes were the softest pancakes I have ever experienced, and I make lots of different versions already at home. I will have to practice these when I get to Vancouver!
Brunch done, we set off for our art experience. The teamlab planets line up was about 30 minutes outside in the heat. There are more teamlabs in Asia and in the Middle East, each has its own theme and art installations. The Planets one that we visited today was absolutely amazing! Mind blowing! There are four different sections, Water, Forest, Garden and Open Air. We started with Water, where you are not allowed to bring any belongings, shoes and socks come off, and you literally get your feet wet. We started off walking uphill through a river/waterfall, it was loud and cool and cooling, after the heat of outside. The next room was ankle deep water and mirrors, then towels to dry off, and a room full of cushions covered by black velvet – and that was just the floor! The walls were also cushy, but not as “loose” as the floor. My favourite room in the Water section was the one with the milky white water to our knees, where they projected fish and flowers on the water. It was magical! Most rooms had mirror walls and ceilings.
The Forest section was an active section, where the girls started off sliding down a ramp and making projected fruits explode into fireworks on the floor. Us three girls climbed wobbly ladders from one end of a room to the other, uphill, all while spinning galaxies were projected all around. I felt quite dizzy coming off that! Then Joe and Téa sat down to draw and colour within a shape, then get their artwork scanned and suddenly their creations were flying around across the wall along with all the other visitor’s art as well. Another section of Forest was a catch and release endangered or extinct animals (see, our girls are learning!), which was done through a cell phone app. You caught the fleeing animals projected on the walls by “shooting” them with bow and arrow, and then a fact sheet would show up on your phone telling you what you caught, where it used to live, what it ate and when it went extinct. You then had to “place” the animal back amongst the rest before you could catch your next one.
The Garden installation was absolutely gorgeous. Once again, a room covered in mirrors, floors, ceiling and walls, and beautiful small plants, complete with roots, were suspended from the ceiling. The flowers moved up and down to seemingly no rhyme nor reason, but it created paths through the room. If the plants ahead on your path suddenly started going down, your route changed. So very magical!
The last section of planets is Open Air, where you are lead outside towards the exit, but can stay and enjoy vegan treats at the café, or purchase ice pops before you head out, like we did. Best ice pops I’ve ever had!
The walk back towards the mall we visited this morning was hotter than hot, and we were extra grateful for the air conditioning upon reentry. We came in through the food court and realized how hungry we were. It was unfortunately impossible to find a single seat in the entire area! So packed with people, so we left to find a “real” restaurant and a sit down experience. We found the 3rd floor and followed our noses to a steak restaurant, and I am SO glad we did! The girls had a kids set each, Joe and I both got steak. The meat came on cast iron plates with sauce to pour on while it was hot, rice, salad, soup and a drink. My steak appeared raw on arrival, but my cast iron plate was still sizzling and cooking the tender strips of flavourful meat within minutes.
Once “dinner” was done (it was still only 4pm by the time we were ready to leave this mall), we headed for home. Even though the big suitcases are packed and shipped already, we still have so much hand luggage to sort out! Picked up a couple of egg salad sandwiches and some ice cream for dessert from You-Know-Where, and went home to organize.
Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to Tokyo!