25.11.30 - Tokyo

Another beautiful day in Tokyo! We start off with a fantastic breakfast at the hotel buffet where they have a variety of Western and Japanese items. The fruit is delicious and they have the best melon (like a honeydew) I have ever had. Ever. It was like a burst of juiciness and was simply amazing. Looking forward to more tomorrow morning!

After breakfast, we head down to the station to get the lay of the land while it's not busy with people. Even by this time - it's around 9:00am - people are forming lines to get into ramen shops and other stores that aren't even open yet. Most of the time, we don't even know what the people are waiting in line for because we can't actually see into the store. Amazing.

Dad goes back to the room while Mom and I continue on to explore KITTE Marunouchi. Another shopping mall. I swear, it seems like every building downtown has a shopping mall. It's nearing lunchtime so we meet back up and decide to head back to Barbara Market Place. We enjoyed the atmosphere yesterday. This time we order pickles, salad, spicy french fries and pizza. So delicious. To top of the meal, we try their basque cheesecake (with actual grated cheese on top) and pair it with lattes. Very nice meal.

Post lunch is a walk through Hibiya Park which is very popular on a Sunday afternoon. A lot of families enjoying the jungle gym and park area. And of course, pretty gingko trees.

Getting back to the hotel, we realize we walked more than 20,000 steps! Well...I did with my short legs, Mom and Dad's count is slightly less. But either way, it certainly didn't feel like we walked quite that much today. So it's time for a siesta before dinner.

Our last dinner in Japan is ramen. Seems fitting, right? We find Sugimoto Marunouchi on our walk earlier and figured we'd give them a try. There was a short line when we got there, but it moved surprisingly quickly. We probably waited 15 minutes at most. Shoyu ramen for the three of us, plus an order of gyoza. So good. The broth was light yet with just enough fattiness to make it smoothe but not greasy, and the thin slices of pork melted in the mouth. A good ending to our delicious trip!

Time to rest before a long day tomorrow. Thankfully we have almost a full day before our flight at 9:00pm so a little more time to explore.

Sayonara!