But first I need to share about the amazingly terrific day I had yesterday. It all actually started at about 10:45pm Saturday night when my phone rang. Yes, this would be the phone that rings approximately once a month. Fortunately I was still awake, and thus able to be coherent (in any language), and also fortunately it was good news. One of my former colleagues was up in Tokyo for some meetings, and they had finished, and she had Sunday free! Did I want to get together? Of course!
So I then proceeded to do homework half the night like a fiend so I could be (relatively) free on Sunday. It was TOTALLY worth it! We met at Yokohama Station (just 2 stops from my neighborhood, a simple 4 minute ride), and then came back to my place so I could show her where I live. From there we walked to Minato Mirai (read: same path I take going to school every day) and caught the subway down to Chinatown. Yummy lunch in Chinatown, then we walked over to the waterfront (about 5 min) and followed the greenbelt of parks that connected where we were all the way back over to Minato Mirai. Let's see, that's a very brief overview of about 7 hours. We finished up at Antico's (my favorite cafe) at Landmark Plaza, sitting OUTSIDE (on the evening of Nov 13?? It was still that warm!) drinking frozen granitas (and not getting cold?? still amazed at how warm it was yesterday!) and enjoying the display of colored lights over the area (my favorite is the giant ferris wheel which is programmed with a light display).
Okay, and now without further ado, here's a lot of pictures to show you our day!
A visit to the outlook at Nogeyama Park, in my neighborhood. Took the time to read a small sign post with history, and discovered the viewing tower we're standing was actually once a high-dive diving platform for a competition-size swimming pool that no longer exists. Great view!
One of the many Christmas trees decorating Minato Mirai. This one is in Landmark Plaza, and you get quite a sense of the grandiose-ness of the space when you look down from the 3rd floor to the first (this tree is 2+ floors tall, by the way. Love this atrium area all the time, by the way, even when it's not filled with a pink & white holiday tree and assorted pirate anime cartoon figures. :)
Chinatown! One of several gates.
Soooo crowded on a Sunday afternoon. Leafy streets filled with visitors, vendors selling roasted chestnuts and also lots of lines as people pass by tempting shop windows selling all sorts of tasty goodies.
"All you can order" restaurants like this one are common. You pay a set price, and then can order as much from the menu as you like. Plates that come are dim sum sized. So it's rather like ordering dim sum from a menu. Many of this type of restaurant have a 90 minute limit (so you can't just sit and eat all day), but the yellow sign to the right of the menu pictures declares that this one has no time limit at all. We spent about 1.5 hours...so I guess even without an official limit, 90 minutes is about right.
Another Chinatown gate.
Giant hombows! You could get them filled with all sorts of things, from meat to bbq pork to fish to sweet, desserty fillings.
There were lines and lines of people for these, and then you could see them enjoying these steaming buns all along the sidewalks, so Yumiko & I got one to share (and even half was plenty...way more than plenty after lunch!). Ours was a basic pork/onion/ginger filling; very yummy!
So from Chinatown we followed the signs to Yamashita Park over on the waterfront (just a few blocks away), and discovered "African Festa 2011" taking place. Like a mini-"Folklife Festival" for those of you from Seattle, but focusing just on African culture. Lots of displays (like this one made from flower petals), booths, workshops, music, tents selling arts & crafts, food and - above all - people. Very cool!
The placard describing the flower petal creation.
Really enjoyed this statue/fountain of the "Water Guardian" (I think that's the title, if I recall correctly). The water rises up & down to different heights, by the way - guarding the Guardian? ;-)
Waterfront looking out towards Minato Mirai - you can see the "Aka-renga Soko" (aka: red-brick warehouse) in the foreground, which is filled with shops & cafes, and then more of the Minato Mirai neighborhood in the background, including the semi-circular "Pacific Yokohama" building where I study, and the giant Ferris wheel with the evening light show that I've taken about a million photos of (which you never see, because they rarely turn out...maybe I should use the "video" feature on the camera!).
So I've seen this building with the somewhat mosque-like turret on it for a while now, but it's the first time that I've ever walked over this way. Disappointingly, this is simply the Yokohama Customs building.
Continuing along the waterfront I spotted what might just be one of the cuter garbage cans in existence. Anything penguin-shaped is cute by definition!
A view across the lawn at the Aka-renga building.
When we got over to the Aka-renga building, it turned out there was a car show (primarily Porsches) being held. They were lined up by color...here are a few shots of the more colorful rows (I skipped the rows and rows of black cars, but they were there, too.)
Okay, you can actually spot some of the black ones here.
Green! The best color car of them all! There were only 4 green ones...
It's getting on towards sunset, and the bay bridge is starting to look pinkish in the background.
Well, maybe you can see the rainbow swirl of colors decorating the Ferris wheel in this picture, at least a little.
Ohhh, I like how this perspective from underneath the Ferris wheel turned out!
Evening skyscape with Landmark Tower in the center.
Evening view of Pacific Yokohama. Actually, the round "sail-shaped" part of the building is the Intercontinental Hotel. School is in the flat conference center attached just in front. The fifth floor (2nd from the top/6th floor) is where I spend my days.
The giant Christmas tree they installed right in the middle of the staircase in Queen's Square Mall.
Sitting on the balcony (patio? It's on the 2nd floor) at Antico's enjoying granitas. The mango one was very good! And on a side note, I've been there 4 times now (not all that many!), and the staff is starting to recognize me. I guess I do stand out...
So there you have it, a pictorial record of my awesome day yesterday! I made it home by 6:30 and homework was completely down by 10:30 - the perfect ending to my 'holiday'!
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