It was the Monday we were due to fly out. So Dean and I did what any sane person would do... Hop on a early morning Shinkansen and go snowboarding for a few hours.
Typically, on the day we're due to fly out, the routine is:
1. Wake up.
2. Pack bags.
3. Go for breakfast
4. Go back to hotel
5. Check out, but leave bags at hotel
6. Mope around Yaesu for a few hours, shopping and eating, whilst wishing it wasn't our last day.
7. Get on train/bus back to airport.
I wasn't having it this time. I'd lost a few days snowboarding, due to Dean being sick and trying to teach the unmotivated, so on coming home from the Alice Cafe the night before, I stopped into the ticket office at JR Shinagawa and bought 2package tickets for Dean and I to go to Gala Yuzawa. This meant packing up the night before, and waking up early, sticking our bags in storage, and heading out at 6am to get the right train and Shinkansen. We arrived just as Gala Yuzawa was opening, but we were starving. None of the main eateries were open yet, so we grabbed some munchies from the conbini, and set up our boards.
It turned out to be awesome way to spend the day. The snow was falling lightly, and despite some of the lifts being shut/slowed because of wind, Dean and I were having a ball. Playing around in trees, skirting powder banks and such. I just wish we had more time, because I knew to get back in time for the airport bus, we needed to be at the train station at 1pm. Was it worth it, spending a couple of hundred dollars for a few hours sliding on snow? Hells yes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. It sure beat sitting around waiting for the inevitable.
We packed up our boards at 12.30 and got ready for the trip back. As soon as the bullet train came into the station (on-time of course), we found our seats and relaxed. We had a couple of beers and chilled, knowing that this would be our last trip for some time. I suppose the fun help balance out the morose-ness of the day.
We made it back to Shinagawa in a decent enough time, and I immediately had to switch back in to task master mode, as everyone was dragging the chain, and to get to the airport with enough time to check in required us to be on the 3.30 bus. Once all the troops were coralled we booked our tickets and waited.
Secretly, I was hoping for a message from Jetstar saying our flight had been cancelled like last year, but it never came, so things went according to plan. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so after checking in, we made our way upstairs for a feed. We then went through customs, leaving ourselves enough time to check out the duty free shops. Dean and I were starting to feel the effects of the day (early start, lots of spent energy), so by the time we had got some magazines and water and stuff, we had a quick beer before settling on to the plane for a night of bad sleep and DVT.
Not much to tell after that. We arrived in Coolangatta on time, and after saying goodbye to Paul and Zoe, I went and got the rental car to take us home. Everyone else besides me never sleep very well on planes, so after driving for about 15 mins everyone was out like a light while we drove back to Brisbane.
We ended up getting stuck in traffic for a while, so by the time we were past it, everyone was feeling hungry. We stopped in Sunnybank to get some cheap food, before heading home where I crashed out for a few hours to catch up.
So where does this leave me? 5 months later, wanting to go again. I know I shouldn't, that I should save so I can make it to Europe somewhere in this lifetime, but like a siren luring me to financial ruin, the snow is calling me.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
End of the tethers...
So it had gotten to the Sunday before we were going to leave. But we needed some space, after having been with other people for nearly 3 weeks.
Paul and Zoe weren't use to our pace and just wanted to sleep in/hotel bludge. We (my family and I) wanted to hit up Yaesu, as we hadn't really been, due to staying in another part of the city. I think that's one thing I'd do if I came again... stay closer to Tokyo station. I like knowing the area, the eateries and such. Over in Shinagawa, there isn't that much to eat for the traveller, unless you feel like staying at your hotel to eat. Anyway, we pottered around Yaesu, including our favourite bottle shop. We had intended on staying dry, but when time slipped away and we knew we wouldn't be getting back in time for the meeting, we decided to sample things. I ended up buying a 30 yo bottle of scotch, and 17yo cognac, to add to my already purchased 14yo Clynnelish.
By the time we were done shopping, it was getting on to 3pm, so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up, before heading out to dinner/dessert at the Alice Cafe. This also included another trip to Donki, as Zoe had some more stuff she wanted to get, and we had wanted to get some more things as well.
The Alice Cafe was a surreal place. It was a Japanese combination of the Disney 1960's version (with some of the songs playing of the stereo) and the Tim Burton version. The waitresses were dressed in blue alice dresses, while the menu had Alice themed drinks and desserts. There was a cover charge to go in, but the food and drinks weren't badly priced, and it was something different that we'd not done before. It's really hard to describe all the features (plus I'm writing this 5 months down the track..) but it was a pretty cool way to end our trip... Or was it...
Paul and Zoe weren't use to our pace and just wanted to sleep in/hotel bludge. We (my family and I) wanted to hit up Yaesu, as we hadn't really been, due to staying in another part of the city. I think that's one thing I'd do if I came again... stay closer to Tokyo station. I like knowing the area, the eateries and such. Over in Shinagawa, there isn't that much to eat for the traveller, unless you feel like staying at your hotel to eat. Anyway, we pottered around Yaesu, including our favourite bottle shop. We had intended on staying dry, but when time slipped away and we knew we wouldn't be getting back in time for the meeting, we decided to sample things. I ended up buying a 30 yo bottle of scotch, and 17yo cognac, to add to my already purchased 14yo Clynnelish.
By the time we were done shopping, it was getting on to 3pm, so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up, before heading out to dinner/dessert at the Alice Cafe. This also included another trip to Donki, as Zoe had some more stuff she wanted to get, and we had wanted to get some more things as well.
The Alice Cafe was a surreal place. It was a Japanese combination of the Disney 1960's version (with some of the songs playing of the stereo) and the Tim Burton version. The waitresses were dressed in blue alice dresses, while the menu had Alice themed drinks and desserts. There was a cover charge to go in, but the food and drinks weren't badly priced, and it was something different that we'd not done before. It's really hard to describe all the features (plus I'm writing this 5 months down the track..) but it was a pretty cool way to end our trip... Or was it...
Spending too much money
After yesterday's failed attempt to get to UT, I jumped on the Uniqlo website and found they had opened a flagship store in Ginza, where UT stuff was now housed. This would work in well with our plans, as we had decided to go to the Alice Cafe (Alice in Wonderland themed cafe) and Donki on Saturday, as well as make our way back to Odaiba, seeing as we hadn't got to see it on Thursday.
After marshalling the troops and setting off, we walked through the New Takanawa to the road leading down to the station. The wind was up this morning, so we were doing our best to keep out of it. Whitney made the executive decision to take breakfast at Royal Host, a chain restaurant. Turns out it was a good choice with Eggs Benedict for 819Y inc drink. A few of us got this, only Dean went different with French Toast with maple syrup.
After we were suitably fueled, we marched on towards the station. We weren't going to make as many trips today, so we just grabbed some solo tickets and headed for Shimbashi. I had noted where Donki was, but had only semi-noted where the Uniqlo flagship store and the Alice Cafe were. I knew all three were not far from each other, but I probably should have got the specifics more than I usually do.
We started walking north along one of the streets. It was running in the right direction, but you could hardly expect a flagship store to be on a narrow back street. We took a punt and headed left, which took us towards Nishi-ginza, but at least it allowed us to find an area map. I had remembered from my searchings that they were more towards Chuo-dori, which was about 2 blocks to the east, so we found the nearest side street to go down. All of a sudden Zoe went sponge bob mode. There was a shoe store from one of her favourite designers, and she wanted to go look in, but it was "only" 10:30 on a Saturday morning, so not open yet.
After spotting the Uniqlo sign, we headed the half a block there, and it was definitely a very big store. 12 levels of well priced shirts, shorts, pants jeans and stuff. I ended up spending quite a bit of money, getting 2 pairs of jeans (really comfy denim) and about 7 shirts. I think I don't mind, because it all fits, it's all full cotton (I hate polyester) and I can walk down the street in Australia knowing that there is a very high likelihood that I won't see someone with the same shirt on.
One thing I do have to mention is the toilets at Uniqlo. I've gotten quite used to the shower toilets and wish I had one at home, but this thing had extras. Not the games found in the urinals at Odaiba, but this one had sensors and everything. When you walked in, the lid automatically opened (closing when you flushed and walked away). It had more shower and bidet modes than I've seen, and had large, small and eco flush, which would be great if your water rates bill was too high. Ok, so it doesn't sound that impressive on screen/paper, but I'm sure this one would have shot up a water and lights show if you programmed it.
After we were suitably fueled, we marched on towards the station. We weren't going to make as many trips today, so we just grabbed some solo tickets and headed for Shimbashi. I had noted where Donki was, but had only semi-noted where the Uniqlo flagship store and the Alice Cafe were. I knew all three were not far from each other, but I probably should have got the specifics more than I usually do.
We started walking north along one of the streets. It was running in the right direction, but you could hardly expect a flagship store to be on a narrow back street. We took a punt and headed left, which took us towards Nishi-ginza, but at least it allowed us to find an area map. I had remembered from my searchings that they were more towards Chuo-dori, which was about 2 blocks to the east, so we found the nearest side street to go down. All of a sudden Zoe went sponge bob mode. There was a shoe store from one of her favourite designers, and she wanted to go look in, but it was "only" 10:30 on a Saturday morning, so not open yet.
After spotting the Uniqlo sign, we headed the half a block there, and it was definitely a very big store. 12 levels of well priced shirts, shorts, pants jeans and stuff. I ended up spending quite a bit of money, getting 2 pairs of jeans (really comfy denim) and about 7 shirts. I think I don't mind, because it all fits, it's all full cotton (I hate polyester) and I can walk down the street in Australia knowing that there is a very high likelihood that I won't see someone with the same shirt on.
One thing I do have to mention is the toilets at Uniqlo. I've gotten quite used to the shower toilets and wish I had one at home, but this thing had extras. Not the games found in the urinals at Odaiba, but this one had sensors and everything. When you walked in, the lid automatically opened (closing when you flushed and walked away). It had more shower and bidet modes than I've seen, and had large, small and eco flush, which would be great if your water rates bill was too high. Ok, so it doesn't sound that impressive on screen/paper, but I'm sure this one would have shot up a water and lights show if you programmed it.
After looking around for a while and buying what I wanted, I went outside. It seems, even though it's a main thoroughfare, on Saturdays during the day, they shut down the street and put seats in the middle of the road, which is heaven sent if your a guy and your girl is being a bumble bee shopper. Paul and I were out there for a while waiting for the others, when Zoe popped out next. I told them to go visit the shoe shop while we were waiting and I'd bring the others down to meet them. In the meantime, I asked one of the helpful sales staff at Uniqlo if she knew where the Alice Cafe was, as it's quite popular. She didn't know, but went inside and grabbed her tablet and looked it up for me. Turns out, it was 2 blocks in the direction that we needed to go to head back to Donki.
We walked back towards the corner of our block and met up with Paul and Zoe, who had finished looking at the shoe shop. I half expected to see a bag under Zoe's arm, but still wouldn't be able to fathom, who in their right mind, would pay massive amounts of money for a pair of shoes. We walked a couple of blocks down before I spotted the sign. Fortunately I can read hiragana and katakana quite easily (and some kanji), because if you weren't able to, you would miss this place entirely. We got the lift up to the 5th Floor, but it was closed. We checked out the opening times on a flyer out the front, but it said they didn't open until 5pm, so we decided to come back later.
After walking to the end of the block, we found another big toy store. One thing I've wanted to do, but never have while in Japan is get some fireworks/crackers. They are legal and available in Japan, but I never seem to see them. We walked around the toy store for a while. There were some cool toys, but not that much I hadn't seen the day before at KiddyLand, when Mum told me she found the fireworks. I immediately went looking for them, but didn't find them. I don't know what it is about mothers. Ever since I was young, she's been constantly thwarting my efforts to set things alight, set things off or generally be a pyromaniac. It started with confiscating any lighters and matches I found when young and has progressed to not telling me exactly where the fireworks are. It's probably for the best though, as although I know you can let off fireworks, I'm not entirely sure where or when I'm allowed to do it. And I wouldn't want to be escorted out of the country for offending.
After departing from the toy shop, we headed for Donki. Now that I had my bearings, it was easy to find. We spent some time in there, with Mum, Dean and Zoe all buying suitcases, and the rest of us things to fill them with. We spent quite a while in there, but Dean was getting stroppy because of being hungry, so after finishing out purchases and bunging them in side the suitcases, we headed back to the Yurikamome train station and headed for Odaiba once again.
The train trip was different during the day. You could see a lot more detail and there were some cool things that would have been missed under the cover of darkness, but we got to see them during the day. We got the train to the Aomi stop, which was the closest one to the historic garage. It was getting on to about 2pm, so we were all getting hungry by this stage. After looking around Venus Fort quickly, we stopped at an Italian style place, with various pastas, pizzas and other stuff on offer, it would have been easy to fill up. However, we had planned on going back to the Alice Cafe later, so I didn't eat a heap.
Mum and Whitney weren't as interested about going to the Historic Garage as we were, so we left them in Venus Fort and headed towards the Toyota Megaweb, a massive car showroom. On the way though we stopped at the fountain. In Venus fort, the roof is closed in, and the "sky" changes with clouds, day and night, but over the fountain was something else. They had plenty of little chandeliers and LED drop lights, and it went through a 5-min sequence with music, showing stars twinkling, a meteorite/shooting star shower and stuff. It was really cool, but I didn't get any video of it (Dean and Zoe did though). We then walked out into the wind and went across to the Megaweb. It was cool for a showroom. It had nearly all the models there (most dealerships here only sell two or three specific models), a slow track you could test drive cars on, and a theatre and design studio. After looking around, it seems that the Historic Garage wasn't in the Megaweb, but actually under Venus Fort, so we headed back that way to find it. In the 1F outer section of Venus Fort, there is a ton of shops selling stuff to pamper your pooch. There were people with some nice looking collies, some ridiculous looking small dogs in prams and general insanity that comes with owning a canine.
We did find our way to the Historic Garage though, and although not quite the way I'd have an auto museum, it was pretty cool, and all for the princely sum of nothing. Yes, free entry, and they had a nice variety of cars, from classic japanese cars (including the gorgeous 2000GT) to the Toyota F1 car, old American cruisers and some quirky European cars, like a late 30's/early 40's Citroen. We walked around there for a while, before Mum and Whitney came up to meet us. Mum does like cars more than she lets on, so she didn't mind having a look around as well. We even got to take some pictures of us sitting in a 2-person Mescherschmitt (sp?) but it was good just to have a seat.
We walked around for a few more minutes before heading back towards the Gundam statue, which I had wanted to get some good pictures of, but by the time we meandered over there, it was dark, so the pictures didn't come out all that special. We got the nearest monorail thing back to Ginza to go to the Alice cafe, but upon arriving, we found it to be packed. Apparently it's so popular you need to book, so we booked for the following night, before setting off for somewhere to fill our stomachs. By this time, we were getting to the "can't think, too hungry" stage, so we stopped at Yoshinoya for a cheap feed before dragging our suitcases back to the hotel (yes we had been towing them all around Tokyo..).
More ice cream and an earlyish night, as we were all tired.
Sorry for taking 5 months to publish, but the doldrums set in after we came back. I'll get the Sunday up soon.
We walked back towards the corner of our block and met up with Paul and Zoe, who had finished looking at the shoe shop. I half expected to see a bag under Zoe's arm, but still wouldn't be able to fathom, who in their right mind, would pay massive amounts of money for a pair of shoes. We walked a couple of blocks down before I spotted the sign. Fortunately I can read hiragana and katakana quite easily (and some kanji), because if you weren't able to, you would miss this place entirely. We got the lift up to the 5th Floor, but it was closed. We checked out the opening times on a flyer out the front, but it said they didn't open until 5pm, so we decided to come back later.
After walking to the end of the block, we found another big toy store. One thing I've wanted to do, but never have while in Japan is get some fireworks/crackers. They are legal and available in Japan, but I never seem to see them. We walked around the toy store for a while. There were some cool toys, but not that much I hadn't seen the day before at KiddyLand, when Mum told me she found the fireworks. I immediately went looking for them, but didn't find them. I don't know what it is about mothers. Ever since I was young, she's been constantly thwarting my efforts to set things alight, set things off or generally be a pyromaniac. It started with confiscating any lighters and matches I found when young and has progressed to not telling me exactly where the fireworks are. It's probably for the best though, as although I know you can let off fireworks, I'm not entirely sure where or when I'm allowed to do it. And I wouldn't want to be escorted out of the country for offending.
After departing from the toy shop, we headed for Donki. Now that I had my bearings, it was easy to find. We spent some time in there, with Mum, Dean and Zoe all buying suitcases, and the rest of us things to fill them with. We spent quite a while in there, but Dean was getting stroppy because of being hungry, so after finishing out purchases and bunging them in side the suitcases, we headed back to the Yurikamome train station and headed for Odaiba once again.
The train trip was different during the day. You could see a lot more detail and there were some cool things that would have been missed under the cover of darkness, but we got to see them during the day. We got the train to the Aomi stop, which was the closest one to the historic garage. It was getting on to about 2pm, so we were all getting hungry by this stage. After looking around Venus Fort quickly, we stopped at an Italian style place, with various pastas, pizzas and other stuff on offer, it would have been easy to fill up. However, we had planned on going back to the Alice Cafe later, so I didn't eat a heap.
Mum and Whitney weren't as interested about going to the Historic Garage as we were, so we left them in Venus Fort and headed towards the Toyota Megaweb, a massive car showroom. On the way though we stopped at the fountain. In Venus fort, the roof is closed in, and the "sky" changes with clouds, day and night, but over the fountain was something else. They had plenty of little chandeliers and LED drop lights, and it went through a 5-min sequence with music, showing stars twinkling, a meteorite/shooting star shower and stuff. It was really cool, but I didn't get any video of it (Dean and Zoe did though). We then walked out into the wind and went across to the Megaweb. It was cool for a showroom. It had nearly all the models there (most dealerships here only sell two or three specific models), a slow track you could test drive cars on, and a theatre and design studio. After looking around, it seems that the Historic Garage wasn't in the Megaweb, but actually under Venus Fort, so we headed back that way to find it. In the 1F outer section of Venus Fort, there is a ton of shops selling stuff to pamper your pooch. There were people with some nice looking collies, some ridiculous looking small dogs in prams and general insanity that comes with owning a canine.
We did find our way to the Historic Garage though, and although not quite the way I'd have an auto museum, it was pretty cool, and all for the princely sum of nothing. Yes, free entry, and they had a nice variety of cars, from classic japanese cars (including the gorgeous 2000GT) to the Toyota F1 car, old American cruisers and some quirky European cars, like a late 30's/early 40's Citroen. We walked around there for a while, before Mum and Whitney came up to meet us. Mum does like cars more than she lets on, so she didn't mind having a look around as well. We even got to take some pictures of us sitting in a 2-person Mescherschmitt (sp?) but it was good just to have a seat.
We walked around for a few more minutes before heading back towards the Gundam statue, which I had wanted to get some good pictures of, but by the time we meandered over there, it was dark, so the pictures didn't come out all that special. We got the nearest monorail thing back to Ginza to go to the Alice cafe, but upon arriving, we found it to be packed. Apparently it's so popular you need to book, so we booked for the following night, before setting off for somewhere to fill our stomachs. By this time, we were getting to the "can't think, too hungry" stage, so we stopped at Yoshinoya for a cheap feed before dragging our suitcases back to the hotel (yes we had been towing them all around Tokyo..).
More ice cream and an earlyish night, as we were all tired.
Sorry for taking 5 months to publish, but the doldrums set in after we came back. I'll get the Sunday up soon.
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