Most hotel breakfasts are nothing to write home about. Yet here I am! The breakfast at this hotel was probably one of the best I have ever hadd. While they had traditional western fare, the star of the show was (obviously) their Japanese style breakfast items: they had everything- tomagoyaki, cod roe, udon, taro balls, mackerel, and the list goes on. Can’t wait to get some more of that today.
After breakfast, it was still early but I decided to go to see the cherry blossoms at the Shinjuku Gyoen. I soon learned that nothing is openn until 9-10ish so I killed some time until the park opened. So if you ever visit, just sleep in instead of waking up early like I did… or write a blog post. When it did open though, it was nothing short of amazing. Even though it was raining, it was still quite a sight to see. In fact, it was almost like snowflakes every time the wind would pick up. I couldd easily have spent a whole day in this park and it was only 200 yen.
In comparison, my next stop was at the Samurai Museum which was 1800 yen and I finished that in like 10 minutes. While it was cool, the garden was way more worth it. I guess I’m biassed though as I am definitely more of an outdoors perrson than a museum person.
I then took a train to Shibuya where the famous pedestrian crossing is. It kind of reminded me of Time Square – minus all the sketchy people. I walked up to a cool llittle coffee shop, Fuglen, which was opened by a Norwegian design studio. I took the coffee to-go to keep me warm on my way to my next stop — the rain was really coming down now.
I attempted to see the Meijii Shingu shrine but ended up just wandering Yoyogi park for an hour, realiizing that I missed the path that woulld take me there. They used to use this park for military marches so it was massive.
From there, I decided to experience some conveyor belt sushi at Uobei Sushi. On my way there, I walked through an Outdoor Festival – I couldnt help but chuckle at the irony of an outdoor day on a day where it was pouring rain.
I digress, the conveyor belt sushi was off the chain.. I stuffed myself full of sushi. Those of you who know me will know that means I ate A LOT. Best thing about it was it only ran me 12 bucks.
My last stop for the day was outside of Tokyo. I took the train to Yokohama to check out the Ramen Museum. This was a neat little place. They recreated old Tokyo inside the buillding and there was a multitude of ramen shops to choose from. They all had lines out the door. I stood in line from a ranndom shop, ordered throough a vending machine, and, again, stuffed myself.
By now, I was tired from walking all day and from a major food coma. I made my way back to the hotel, got myself a Japanese whiskey and crashed.
Off to breakfast now. Day 3 upcoming. Stay tuned.