The Sumida River

Hamarikyu was a perfect way to start the day. After touring the park is was time to leave for Asakusa, and once again Dean had a surprise for us. Instead of heading for the train station he led us toward the far end of the park where a boat ride awaited us. Hamarikyu's unique location allows for boats to dock there and we were now fortunate enough to be able to board one that would take us to Asakusa via the Sumida river. Here's a picture of us leaving Hamarikyu in the background.

The boat was big and airy, with very few people joining us for the ride. The first thing we noticed when we boarded was how low the ceiling was. The boat was a double decker model with glass ceilings, and pretty much everyone sat on the upper deck for the view. Matt, the tallest guy in our group had to literally walk around in a crouched position to fit, and his head still grazed the roof.

Since there weren't a lot of people on board we could sit where ever we wanted. Our group spread out on both sides of the boat and started our tour of the Sumida river.

According to Dean there are 12 unique bridges on the Sumida river. This one caught my eye as we passed under it. I did some research and found out that this is the Chuo-ohashi Bridge, a modern suspension bridge that really stood out amongst the other bridges we saw. As we passed under these bridges it became startling clear why the ceiling on the boat was so low. These bridges are so close to the water that our boat barely fit each time we passed under one. Luckily no one loss their head, and before you knew it we had arrived at our destination, Asaskusa.