Actually, there was nothing sweet about. I wasn't really looking forward to coming back, so when I woke on Saturday to the sound of rain and had to start packing, I was already in a gloomy frame of mind.
I had set my alarm for 6am, but after a late night before, the alarm got switched off before I slept til 8am. Then I awoke with a start to realise I had to do a bit of packing. Even though I didn't really buy much, and threw out a few things I had brought over, my backpack was full before I had got everything in there. Dean and I borrowed a vacuum and sucked our space bags flat, yet we still were stuffing the bags to bursting. It took us a while to get everything packed, including removing the packaging from a few things that we didn't mind if they weren't wrapped, so it was nearly 9.30 before we finished that. Conrad was taking his usual amount of time to do anything, so it was nearly checkout time before we actually were downstairs with our bags.
Fortunately for us, the Center Hotel doesn't mind you leaving your bags their after you check out, which gave us a chance to go get some breakfast and look around. As it was our last day in Japan, MOS Burger was our destination, and although we weren't served by the funny old lady that works there, she appeared before we left. We headed from there back to Yaesu Mall, via the hotel to grab a jacket as well as a little cake shop along the street. It was still raining on and off, so we didn't really get wet before we arrived there. I suggested going and checking out the shops underneath Tokyo Station, as we hadn't really had a chance to look there. One thing I wish there was more of in Tokyo in general, is seats. You can never find a bench to sit on when you need one, so you have to take note of where you do see them. I got tired of looking pretty quickly and wanted to eat my Coffee Cake that I had bought earlier, but I had to eat it standing up. Dean was fretting about dropping his Strawberry cake, so I pointed to some cubes I had seen the day before so he could sit down and eat.
We waited for a while, while Conrad, Mum and Whitney wiggled their way between various character shops before they too got tired of it. I wanted to have another crepe before we left, so we looked around for a crepe shop I had seen last year, but alas, it was no longer where I remember it being. It did lead us to some more confectionary/cake shops on the ground floor of the station, and we stopped there for a look.
By now it was 11.30 or so, and the lack of caffeine in our systems must have been taking its toll, so Dean pulled into Cafe Pronto that is near the ticket office. Unfortunately, they didn't have any split seating for smoking/non-smoking, and with our patience for tar suckers wearing thin, Dean and Conrad got their drinks to go. We headed around the corner and found a whole heap of restaurant that would have been good to us the night before, but I was getting hungry again, so we stopped in at bagel place that was no smoking. One thing we seem to find amusing, is the way the Japanese mash up their italian and french names for their cafe's. I can't remember the name of the bagel cafe off the top of my head, but I did order a BLAT and a cappucino. The BLAT was good, and had nice thick bacon rashes, something that's harder to find (they like thin cut bacon). It had a nice salad and some thick cut crisps as well, but the pumpkin bagel with good amounts of filling was doing its job, so I stopped after the salad.
Now we were fueled up again, we walked around some more, before meandering back towards Yaesu. Mum, Conrad and I wanted to head to our bottle-shop again, as the prices were nearly better than duty-free. I bought a bottle of Glenlivet 12yo single malt for 2380Y, Mum picked up another bottle of cognac, while Conrad picked up a few different bottles, all for a good price. We had taken our sweet time to decide, so Dean and Whitney had headed around the aisle to the gyoza place. We eventually met up with them there, before having a final plate of gyoza and beer. I will miss that place.
It was now getting on, so we headed for the hotel to claim our baggage. We stuck mum and Whitney in a cab again with all their baggage and Dean's and my backpacks, before Dean, Conrad and I rolled our bags to Tokyo station. We were stilling wearing our coats, so we were a little bit hot and sweaty by the time we got there and met up with them.
As is usually the way, I was designated spokesperson again, so everyone gave me their rail passes to book the tickets, but after going to the "wrong" booth (I think the young lady just couldn't understand english very well) we rolled around the corner to the other ticket booth and got the tickets for the Narita Express (N'EX) back to Narita Airport. It was now about 3.45, but our booked tickets weren't until 4.33pm, so we had plenty of time to find our way to the correct platform. We were waiting a while, so I went to the kiosk that was on the platform and bought a couple of beers for the trip (at 138Y, why not!). We waited some more, before the cool looking N700 arrived to take us to the airport.
By this stage I was a little morose, so I had a beer with the equally gloomy Dean on the train. As we watched the metropolis turn into suburbs turn into country side, it all seems a little familiar. The windmill in the middle of the rice patty, the little streams and bamboo crops. Life moves slower in the countryside, because a year had passed since I was in the same position, but the places seemed the same.
The train kept having to slow down, but it still managed to be about ontime. We got off and started making our way from the below ground train lines, to the ticket gates, then up to the 3rd Floor where we checked our luggage in. After waiting for what seem like ages, it was our turn at the counter. No wonder our bags felt heavier and were harder to fit stuff in. Conrad's board bag was 6kgs heavier, while mine and Dean's suit case was 7kgs. I blame too many Star Wars collectables, but we were flying with Jetstar, so it meant we either lose the excess weight, or we pay. Conrad actually took this one for the team, as Dean's card was nearly full by this stage. After paying the princely sum of 10800Y, we were on our way upstairs to get some food.
The next 1.5hrs seemed to blur, because although we got dinner pretty quickly, by the time we got through customs and scanning, it was time to board (final call actually!). Not that customs were slow, we just had a slowpoke on the team. What this meant was that we didn't even get time to do some planned Duty Free shopping. We had to board the plane straight away, and yet Conrad still stopped at a vending machine to buy some juice and cider!
We had some turbulence coming out of Tokyo, but for the most part, I don't remember the journey home, apart from Conrad breaking his chair as soon as he got on, and dodgy food being served at a weird hour. Me being my usual narcoleptic self fell asleep in no time, so it wasn't until we were near to landing that I woke up. Dean had even managed to catch a few zzz's on the plane, but it's never as good a sleep as in a bed.
But this is getting into Sunday, so I'll continue this another time.
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