more tokyo exploration, and curry soup

The bus arrived at Tokyo Station about 6:00 am, and thankfully the trains were not at all crowded yet. I made it back to Yukari's apartment easily despite my very heavy bag. She let me in and we left again about an hour later. We agreed to meet for lunch.

I went to the Imperial Gardens as they opened and it was already getting hot. I was feeling not particularly sleepy, but rather sluggish, so i decided to find some coffee. The first place i came across was Starbucks which is horribly boring but i went in anyway. (There were all sorts of more fun cafes down the street.) I got a lemon cake and a coffee frappuccino. I know, i didn't even get the matcha one!! I wanted to, but i also really wanted coffee. But cold coffee.

I browsed in a bookstore for a while and stopped in a small park, then went back to Yukari's building and met her for lunch. All the restaurants in the area were super crowded, but we found a few stools at a Korean spot.

After she went back to work, i walked for a long time but did not find Ginza. So i got on the subway and did it that way. I ordered a huge parfait at Fujiya and it was nice and fruity and ice creamy.

After Ginza, i went to Ebisu where i went to the Garden Place and stopped by the Metropolitan Photography Museum. Unfortunately only the exhibit in the basement was open that day. I'm not terribly into landscapes and super vibrant color but i enjoyed it, and learned about Sado island (with the help of my guidebook) which i had never heard of. There was also a beer museum at Garden Place but i didn't go.

I walked back to Ebisu station and then towards Daikanyama. I think i was actually in Daikanyama briefly, but the roads are so crazy that without even realizing i was going in a circle, i found myself back at Ebisu station. But, my impression is that it's cute, with narrow hilly streets and my image of a Tokyo cafe (so cute and tiny with room for only one table on the patio). An awful lot of hair salons, though. But, this may have been Ebisu and not Daikanyama. My guidebook said Daikanyama has an almost western vibe, but i didn't sense anything like that where i was.

So back at the station, i tried again, this time in the direction of Shibuya. That actually worked, though i didn't know it without asking the girl in the cafe after Yukari emailed me to find out where i was.

I looked around in Mark City and then took some purikura by myself (haha) in a smoky arcade , bought some socks, and exchanged $20 more into yen. She let me know when she was almost there. Then we went to Mizue's together. She made us delicious curry soup, a Hokkaido specialty it seems (her and her husband are both from Hokkaido), turmeric rice and her own plum wine. We also got to try cheese from her husband's family's dairy farm. It was all wonderful! Her husband brought home some (grape!) ice cream, and Yukari had made cheesecake. I hadn't seen Mizue in a long time.

We got home around midnight. I had to pack. :(