Tadaima!

I'm home! Well, actually we got home yesterday, but I just spent the whole day dazed out, which in my case case means cleaning. Unpacking, washing the first set of laudry, reorganising my wardrobe to accommodate all the new skirts I now own, fixing Phoenix, etc. But today I managed to pry Valentine off the main computer and edit some photos we took in Tokyo. So here's a short version of our trip.



When we first arrived, it took us hours of waiting in lines (immigration, train + metro tickets) until we finally were in Shinjuku, where our hotel was. Exiting the Shinjuku station, a huge complex with JR train tracks and a few different metro lines crossing, Valentine was sure we were/would get lost. But I had a good idea were we were and following that intuition we found our hotel pretty quick. Not that the walk was that quick, with the heavy luggage and the swealtering heat. We dropped off our luggage to wait until check-in time and went to grab a lunch, our first authentic Japanese cuisine.

It then became obvious that 1) it was insanely hot (and it continued to be that way the whole trip, peaking at 39 C that felt like 50 C) and 2) no one spoke much English at all. We basically went the whole vacation using sign language and sweating like in a huge outdoor sauna.

The first few days I spent shopping :D Valentine found the Shinjuku Marui One mall where Angelic Pretty's store was very easily. Marui One became my favourite shopping mall quite quickly, I bought three AP cutsews and the wanted Promanade de Paris skirt in mint! There was also a very cute accessory shop there, but the items were very expensive so I couldn't justify bying anything other than a cute bracelet. We then went to Akihabara, to get my SD Kun since it was sold out at the Shinjuku Volks store (it took some lost and found in translation to manage reserving that Kun, but all went fine! And they were really helpful!). It was a costly two days, and the vacation had just begun!

While in Akihabara, we went to a maid cafe, that had me grinning foolishly while Valentine was trying to sink under the table XD The sundays were extremely cute and delicious, the girls were fun and they tried very much to talk with us, despite language barriers, and they even managed to lure Valentine into singing these silly songs that every customer was supposed to sing when they got their orders. A very silly place, but when approached with the correct attitude, plenty of fun!

We then went a bit more serious the next few days, sightseeing in the Empire Palace (although it was too late to get into the East Gardens), visiting the National museum, and eating plenty of noodles. Food in general was pretty cheap, so we saved a lot on our budjet there. Drinks however was quite costly, except in the vending machines.

Next big thing for me was the Disney Sea park! I had already visited the Eurodisney resort in Paris and the Disneyland in Orlando Florida, so this time we took the second of Tokyo's Disney resorts, Disney Sea, which had all new attractions. In stead of a princess castle, the centerpiece was an erupting volcano, Mount Prometheus. Around it, the park expanded with several different themes, like the Maya temples and the Arabian nights. The place was so wonderful! And it can't be captured in mere photos!

After the exitement of the Disney, we went to the upbeat parts of Tokyo. We quickly browsed through the Shibya 109 mall and then walked to Harajuku. We returned the next day and I went on a 'little' shoping spree having found Bodyline and Closet Child shops. I bought three more skirts from here, which was all good, since wearing jeans in that heat was torture anyway...

The last few days we spent pretty much just relaxing in Shinjuku. Along the street where our hotel was, was a nice little restaurant with a terrace where we sat and had drinks on several evenings. And a little further from there, was a very little restaurant managed by a Japanese couple that could make custom menus on reservaion. So Valentine reserved us one for the last night, it was the most affordable 10 course dinner I've ever known! But good, since the menu was custom made to not have any seafood. It was a good end to our trip. :)

I'll miss Tokyo, although I would have wanted to be more fluent in the language so that I could have talked to the locals a bit more. Definitely worth the money though!