Happy Valentines Day!

Ok so I had like THE best Valentines Day of my life yesterday.  It was awesome.  It started kinda crappy when I got woken up kind of early by some of my roommates getting up at like 7am eckkk! But after they left for the day I managed to fall back asleep and it was great for the rest of the day.  I officially got up and out of bed at about 9:15...man I'm turning into an early bird...that's when I've been getting up ever since I arrived in Japan. Went up to the lobby and got myself some toast, jelly and a soft boiled egg....not the best breakfast I've ever had, but hey, this is a 2800yen a night place..I didn't expect them to have breakfast at all...so YAY! things started off pretty positively!

After breakfast I chilled in the lobby with my new blog buddy and coincidently bunkmate (no kidding...not just my dorm roommate, but the girl actually sharing the bunk right below mine!) cool huh?  She and I..along with Luc (one of the guys that was still hanging around)...decided to go out yesterday and celebrate the holiday by partying it up.  All 3 of us are single and just wanted to have an awesome night out in Tokyo.  But between that discussion and clubbing time I had some exploring to do.

 

As I surmised in my previous post, I did indeed just explore around Asakusa.  Luc had no plans for the day and didn't feel like wandering Tokyo alone again so he joined me.  We went back to see Seisoji.  It was just as great as I remember from my last visit to Tokyo....though I must admit I went there on a mission to get chocolate covered bananas and visit an awesome Udon shop I happened upon last time.  Mission objective 1 was an utter failure.  I dragged Luc up and down the allies and around the temple grounds looking for what had apparently gone from an abundance of banana stalls to them being in hidding.  NOT cool! Luc found some really good melon pan and shared a bit of it with me to tide me over  (melon pan is a must have while in Japan...along with green tea ice cream).Mission 2 on the other hand was complete.  Found it just as the hunt for chocolate bananas made me so hungry I could hardly go any further.  I ordered Tempura Udon (super delicious).  I highly recommend going to this place if you want to get some fantastic Udon while around Tokyo.  It's off the main gift buying street to the left on the left...I want to say the second road, but it could be further.  I'm going to be in Tokyo again next week...I'll go back and confirm this for anyone who might possibly be interested! OHH! And this isn't just me.  The resturant was packed, I went there with Masa last time and he loved it...plus (if he counts) Luc said his was amazing too.

Source of my lunch!

my Udon

After wandering eating Luc and I decided to try and find a park somewhere and chill on a bench while having a can of coffee (cocoa in my case).  We went to the station map and saw a decent sized one depicted on the other side of the river and so asked a station clerk for directions.  Most we got from him was out exit A4 and across the bridge.  It took a lot of keeping down that road and then asking for directions before we actually it.  Well worth the round-about wandering too.  I stupidly decided to conform to Japanese fashion and wore heeled boots!  my feet hurt by the time we finished meandering around the park and selected out bench.  The park (Sumida Koen) was beautiful...see pictures below...there was even a cute temple in it, something I didn't feel the need for photos of, but still very cute.


After our coffee/cocoa break we headed back to the hostel.  My feet hurt and was pretty chilly after having been outside nearly all day.  Blog buddy (I will refer to her as this..I know she'd want a nickname) was again in the lobby plugging away at her blog.  Bit behind after her trip to the Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo in Hokkaido.  An event I had wanted to go to and then realized how much extra time, effort and money it would take.  I made my previous posts prettier with pictures she showed me how to upload, and we chatted until we decided to go get ready for going out.  Another girl and 2 guys from a Pharmacist University tour group decided to join us, as well as Luc's roommate.  I would name name's, but I'm not sure if they want to be mentioned.  Luc I'm sure is too into anime memorabilia to notice I gave up his...or even to care!

The 7 of us left the hostel at 11...needed to make it to Shibuya by midnight when the trains stopped in order to make it to our intended destination of Club Atom, which was having a great Valentines Day special.  Club Atom and the adventure that was getting there deserves it's own post so I'll leave you for the night....



...On a side note..I'm now in Taipei, so I need to get to my first day here as well!