We met Nick for lunch at Izumi Garden Tower. As it was dry we ate in the courtyard outside Paul, so that Emily could crawl around and see the sparrows that frequent the area to get scraps where people eat their lunch.
Afterwards, we went to meet Bettina and Geraldine at Otemachi for our walking circuit of the Imperial Palace. We were not impressed by the number of steps that we had to carry the buggies up; that station is poorly equipped with lifts and escalators. It was a lot warmer than we'd expected and though we were only really strolling I got quite hot and sweaty. We broke off for a cool drink at Starbucks in Kudanshita, and Emily drank through a straw for the first time. She did it so easily that I wish I'd tried ages ago.
It was lovely to walk together and get exercise and chat at the same time. It felt quite a long way for 5km (I found out afterwards that we'd gone a bit further - perhaps 6km). The best part, we decided, was the north-west stretch between Yasukuni shrine and Hanzomon, the pleasant tree-lined walk which is a veritable riot of cherry blossom in spring, and lovely at all times of year.
Jo and Isy had been at another event and joined us afterwards, waiting for us at the Masushige statue near Hibiya. We let the babies have a crawl on the grass under pines, though Isy was very reluctant to do so, finally being brave and crawling a few feet with a lot of encouragement.
In the bath that night, Emily took three steps forward with me holding her hands.
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