Yesterday we woke up kind of early. We were both pretty hungry, so we went to the hotel’s breakfast buffet right when it opened. We’ve eaten there every morning. I like all the choices, and the view is nice. It’s on the top floor of the hotel. We got the best seats – right in front of the window:
We decided we’d take a ride on the bullet train, for the experience of it. Our destination was Fuji, the city right next to the mountain.
It was interesting to be on a train, which I haven’t done much, besides subway or transit trains.
It was fun to watch the view change from city to country.
Since the city of Fuji is right next to the mountain, there are amazing views of Mt. Fuji. When we arrived, we went outside to see it:
D’oh! There were clouds covering it.
We had about two hours. We decided to walk to a park that was next to the ocean, even though it was incredibly hot and humid.
In spite of the heat, the walk was fun, because we were traveling through local neighborhoods and seeing them up close.
D’oh! Our route to the park and ocean were blocked. By then we were so, so hot. We started back to the train station, but decided to stop in a clothing store called Avail. The clothes were so cheap.
Nine hundred yen is $5.52.
I got a shirt. It was 990 yen, or $6.07.
We had cooled down a little by then, and headed back to the train station. We had time to get a little lunch for the trip back.
As we left, I took one last picture of Mt. Fuji:
…and then I let my phone rest. The battery was getting lower, and I hadn’t brought the power block part of my charge cable along, which I would have needed if I was going to charge my phone on the train. Dang.
As we traveled, I looked out the window, and was amazed to see houses with ceramic tile roofs. I’ve seen tile roofs before, but not glazed ceramic. It was pretty:
After getting off the train, we headed to Shibuya. Denis had gotten tickets to Shibuya Sky – an observation deck at the top of a skyscraper.
D’oh! It was closed, due to the heat. Since the Shibuya Sky check-in was on the fourteenth floor of the building, we decided to descend via escalator instead of elevator, just to see what stores were there.
The most amazing one to me was a place called Hands. It had everything!
I got a souvenir from the kids toys section: a little bonsai starter kit with four different types of seeds:
In spite of our disappointments of the day, I still had fun with all the people-watching I could do, and seeing places that weren’t just for tourists.
We’re flying back to the Philippines today. Here’s my flight info: United #32 Depart Narita 5:55pm Arrive Cebu 10:05pm
You are in the air, halfway there as I type this. Praying it’s a good flight.
What a serendipitous adventure! You didn’t see what you thought you would, but certainly had some cool experiences. That thing in the train picture on the left really threw me off. At first I thought it was a person, then luggage, then realized it was part of the chair.
The food pictures are awesome, too. Your tiny chip container! Also, did you have cauliflower with your spectacular breakfast view?
Your ambition is admirable, despite repeated thwarting. Good on you (both)!
Thanks as always for sharing your adventures with the rest of us. Imagine the yen you’ve saved everyone who can stay home instead. 😉
Safe travels back to the Philippines…
Lauren, the breakfast buffet was so interesting. Lots of unusual (to me) things that were offered. If it wouldn’t have been so rude by local standards, I would have loved to take pictures. I mostly had scrambled eggs and fruit, but the did have cauliflower with cheese on it that was delicious. I had it every morning.