Kamakura

Our JR Rail Pass expires today, so Alexis and I decided to maximize the use of it by taking a side trip to Kamakura. We had an early train, so we woke up early and picked up breakfast at Cafe Veloce. I had a chocolate croissant and a cafe au lait, and Alexis had a German sausage and au lait. We went to Shinjuku station in the middle of rush hour, so it was very crowded. Our train was on time, and it was pretty full. We packed it in, and we had to stand for about 15 minutes before seats began to free up.

We reached Kamakura around 9:30, and we took a wrong turn leaving the station. We walked up Wakamiya-Dori towards the Prefectural Modern Art Gallery and the National Treasure House Museum. It was a nice walk and we quickly knew we were going the wrong direction, but we decided to keep going because the walk was lined with cherry blossoms and the facades of the museums looked nice from far away. We took a number of photos of the museums and headed back down Wakamiya-Dori to find the Daibutsu, The Great Buddha. Unfortunately, we did not find the street where we were supposed to turn right, so we walked all the way to Yuigahama Beach. Finding the street to turn onto was very frustrating, but we found our way to the Daibutsu after asking a few locals for directions. Once we reached the Daibutsu, we took a bunch of pictures, and then headed back to the train station via bus for lunch/snack.

We walked up a main shopping alley near the train station and did a little bit of shopping. We were quite hungry, so we picked up a snack. We had a piroshki from a piroshki stand, and a chocolate and banana crepe. Not very Japanese, but they were very tasty. After some more shopping, we went back to Kamakura station, and took the train back to Shinjuku. Since we only shared a piroshki and a crepe, we got hungry again and picked up ekiben from Shinjuku station and ate it back in our room. Because of all of the walking we did in Kamakura, we were pretty exhausted.

We rested for a little bit in our room before heading out for drinks at the Park Hyatt. I contacted a colleague from my firm to see if he wanted to have drinks, so Alexis and I met with him and his wife for drinks at New York Bar, the bar at the top of the Park Hyatt. The New York Bar is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt, and has great views of the Tokyo skyline. It is also well known for being one of the filming locations in Lost in Translation. Alexis and I had a nice time chatting with my colleague and his wife, and then Alexis and I went out to dinner in Shinjuku.

There are many restaurants near our hotel, but we decided to look at some of the restaurants on the west side of the station. We settled on a yakitori place called Toritetsu Yakitori. It was filled with cigarette smoke, and it was a bit overwhelming. I ordered a bunch of chicken skewers, salad, spicy french fries, shishito peppers, spicy chicken karaage, and raw chicken. The raw chicken was interesting. I ate about 1/3 of the raw chicken, and that was enough for me (I hope I don't get sick). Overall, I thought the food was pretty good, but there was too much cigarette smoke, so we tried to eat and get out their asap.

Many of you know about my infamous story about flatulence in a Tokyo elevator. Well, today it was like deja vu. At our hotel, a hotel guest came out of one of the elevators. Alexis rushed to get the elevator before it closed. Then as the elevator doors closed, we realized that the guest passed gas before we got on. Alexis and I couldn't breathe until we reached the 13th floor. The guest left a horrible smell in our elevator. There must be something in the food here. : )