Yesterday we mellowed out in the room during the morning, catching up on the incredible amount of pictures from the wedding on Facebook. It's unreal how many are out there, and how well our friends captured the whole week. Thank you everyone for doing that!
We then grabbed ramen and gyoza at Komen in Shinjuku. Let me tell you this ain't your 3 for 99 cents ramen. Dear Lord it's good! We already have plans to go back before we leave for Kyoto.
Down to Harajuku to see the Meiji temple which was beautiful, but it had nothing on the people watching. Several weddings were happening on the grounds so we could see the impeccably well made up brides and the samurai-styled grooms. There were also a ton of little girls dressed as geisha that supported my theory that Japanese children can't be real because they're too damn adorable.
Hopped over the tracks past anti-war demonstrators (assuming that they were preparing for Obama's visit this week) and into the mass crowds roaming the Harajuku streets. It's like Rodeo Drive x20 on a long and wide street. We got sick of the crowds, even though the goth girls were entertaining to look at, so we cut into the side streets which was much more our speed. Tiny walking streets full of boutiques (yes Trace, I got a picture of the Stussy store, which was above an Undefeated) and well dressed youth made for a nice afternoon stroll.
Done with that area, we headed back past our hotel in Shinjuku and up into the Park Hyatt hotel. It comprises the 41-52 floors of the Tokyo Tower Building, and all I can say is wow. Mathew Horner recommended we have a drink up there (amongst other recos, all of which were spot on), but since the New York Bar on the 52nd floor didn't open until 5, we had tea and dessert on the 41st floor in the lobby bar. The view of the city was astonishing, especially since the sun was setting over the western portion of the city, and was glowing orange through the haze of the city skyline. Spectacular. After tea (and a dessert I can't pronouce, something like Mille-liuffe), we had drinks at the NY Bar which provided an even better view, delicious french fries fried in duck fat with homemade ketchup, and immaculate drinks. Tania had a very smooth plum wine concoction that was easy on her sore throat, and I had a vodka drink with ground apples and ginger syrup. The ice was flawless as the Japanese like to do so that it doesn't melt too quickly (it makes a difference, I swear), and the presentation was perfect. Even though I ate a slice of ginger thinking it was a slice of apple, we loved it all. And we got out of there before the cover charge came into effect. Gotta love budget traveling at the Park Hyatt!
Okay, so maybe that wasn't too short, probably because I can't say enough good things about this city. I can't wait to check out some of the outlying towns to see what else the region provides. Sean Nichols gave us some recos for Kamakura, so we'll see if Salon de la Grande actually has the world's best hot chocolate.
Cardinals kicked the Bears' asses today, and my fantasy team is killing it! Man it doesn't get much better than this!
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