Ana Intercontinental Tokyo 5*

Because I am an Ambassador member (I will write about that later) we could check-in at the Ambassador-counter. No problem with check-in. I had booked a club-room so we could get access to the club-lounge. Because of my Ambassador membership we got an upgrade to a suit at the 35th. floor!





The room was very nice and we got fruit and a little present (again, because of the a-membership).



The bathroom was not very big, but not very small, with L'occitane and Shiseido products.

This little machine was placed in the room. I haven't tried it, but it looks like you can put the oil (a lavender oil to get you to sleep)

The downside with this hotel is that it is situated in the Rappongi area. The area is the business-area in Tokyo. All the embassies/consults are in this area. There is not much to do or to see! Luckily there is a tube-station close to the hotel.

Another downside is that we didn't get new toiletries at turndown. This is not good for a 5* hotel!

The lounge is BIG. At tea-time there were some sweets and coffee/tea/mineral-water. The coffee is from a machine and the cappuccino was not good... Grrrr... BUT the evening-service was great with sushi, "finger-food" and some cakes. There were also REAL Champagne, red- and whitewine, beer, whiskey, Campari etc... etc... The atmosphere in the lounge is nice and very international. We even saw some other Scandinavians! There are also two massage-chairs in the lounge, the only downside was that all the descriptions were in Japanese! Well, well, I tried it and it did SOME kind of massage!



The hotel has an out-door swimming-pool. Because the weather has been very bad today, we haven't tried the pool yet. Maybe tomorrow!

I will also write about the breakfast tomorrow, after breakfast... :-D

Harajuku

This is the place where the young people goes to shop and to "hang". The bridge to the right of Harajuku station is famous because every Sunday young people dressed in strange clothing (everything from gothic to lolita) meet at the bridge. We went to the bridge, but there were nobody there, maybe because there were a festival close to the bridge.

Instead we went to the street where all the young people buy their clothing. It was... interesting... :)

Look at all the people!

Not my cup of tea! :-D

This sign hung in the street!

There were lots of stalls selling crepes with different "stuffing" like ice-cream, bananas, strawberries etc... etc... They made it like a cone with paper outside, so it was easy to eat. Not very healthy but .... yummi.... :-D It was very popular, everybody ate it!

By accident we past a wedding. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the anything but the backs, but we could hear the music!

Outside the wedding-chapel

Tsukuba festival

don't know exactly what this festival was about, but there was a "march" and there were lots of stalls to buy food and small things. It looked like the Norwegian "17-mai".

Flea-market in Shinagawa Intercity building

They say you can find some very nice and cheap kimonos at flea-markets in Tokyo. Well... We didn't find much, but it was fun to have a look!

A sight-seeing around Tsukuba

Our group had three buses leaving Tsukuba at 08.30. First stop was Mt. Tsukuba Shrine Station. We took the cable-car, which reminded me of “Fløyen” in Bergen, to the top.







It was steaming hot down at the station so it was VERY nice to get up in the mountain where it was a little bit cooler. From the top of the cable car we walked for 15-20 min. to Nyotaisan Station where there were a rope-way (hanging in the air, similar to Ulriken in Bergen). The rope-way took us down to Tsutsujigaoka. From there we drove in about an hour to Mito Drive-in where we got Japanese lunch. Surprise, surprise! I am not sure about what I ate and to be honest, I didn’t taste everything…




After lunch we drove in 30 min. to Yamasa fish marked. The marked was a little bit disappointing as there were no live fishes/crabs, like in Hakodate. It didn’t smell very nice, while in Hakodate it smelled nothing! Maybe because it was 12 degrees c. in Hakodate and 30 in Yamasa???








Well, I lied… there were some live “sea-things”: Oysters! I don’t think I have seen oysters before, so it is difficult to compare, but the others said those oysters were the largest they have ever seen! The people who ate it said it was impossible to eat the whole thing in one “slurp”! I have never tasted oysters and didn’t today… Lots of people ate/slurped and it looked… sorry… disgusting…







After the fishmarked we had to drive for one hour to get to Hitachi Nippon Mining Museum. For those interested, I am sure it was great, but I have to admitt I was tired and my interest for mines have never been great..  I walked very quickly through it and then went out in the garden. Much more peacefull and lots of well-manicured trees!

I don't know what this means, but I liked it... :)

I was very happy when we arrived to Tsukuba after 1,5 more hours in the bus! Where exactly I have been today? I don’t know… around Tsukuba… 

Negishi restaurant in Tokyo

is located in Sotobori Dori, close to Nikko Ginza hotel. The restaurant is not fancy, more like a café, but the food was very nice. You can choose between different grilled meat complimented by tororo (grated jam), rice and ox-tail soup. Everything was delicious except from the tororo, which had a very slimy consistent without taste. The restaurant claims that the menu is very healthy.

OMG!!!!!

Today, when I went for a walk, I "bumped" into this small shop. First I thought it was "fake", but after browsing around for... eeeeewwww... well.. some time... looking inside the bags and purses, looking for stamps etc.. etc... I found that it had to be original. Haha, after all, with all the designer-stuff the Japanese are buying, it has to END somewhere when they get tired of it! :-D And it ends here, in this shop... Some of it looked a little bit used, but most of it looked perfectly new! And the prices? OMG... I have been looking for a brown bag/purse for a long time and I found it here! Normally I am not very fond of LV as it "flashes" too much (in my opinion), but these purses didn't look very LV and they were what I have been looking for.

I also bought the white Ferragamo. That neither "flash". I would never have bought it full price, as it's not that usable, but I got it for... hahaha... 25 Gbp (it had some scratches, but not much. The steel also has to be polished.)! The reason why I like Ferragamo is that it is very good quality and I HOPE LV is the same. I have a Ferragamo-bag I bought 5 years ago. I have used it VERY much, all over the world, at planes, airports, trains, buses, cars... you name it... and it still looks very good. There are a few scratches here and there, but it doesn't look *used*.


And the price for the small LV was 45 Gbp. and the big 250 GbP. I saw a red LV on sale... I MIGHT NEED that too... :-D

The shop is very close to the hotel. Unfortunately it's kind of difficult to explain, but I can try... If you go from Tsukuba Express. Go to Q1 center, follow to the next shopping-center (J-something, can't remember the name) and follow that shopping-center to the end. At the corner go straight ahead (over the road) and follow the buildings there. After walking for about 5 min. you should see a 7/11 at the left side of the road. The shop is the house before the 7/11. Hmm... I think this is the direction... :)

High-tech Japanese toilet

Food-hall in Japan

Yesterday I went to the food-hall for lunch. Oooooh, I LOVE the Japanese food-halls. There
are lots of small stalls where they make food, so it is always fresh. And the best, you always get small "tasters". I am never afraid of eating anything in Japan, the hygiene is the best here!

This is for my father! :-D

I couldn't bring those owls home!

(There is a story behind this... My father is one of the wisest man I know. As a symbol I started collecting owls for him. He now has owls from all over the world! Haha, I don't know if he really LIKES the owls, still he always gets one every birthday and Christmas... Poor man... At least I always have something to give him! :-))

Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba, Tsukuba 4*

Not exactly Conrad… A little bit sad compared. In another way, it is perfectly ok and we have wired internet connection.

The hotel is very close to the railway-station. We had planned to take a taxi, but looked at the map at the railway-station and found it there. It was 5 min. to walk!





You have to pay 1000 yen (about 5,5 GbP) a day to get an international TV-card! And no, we are not in Japan to watch television! :)

The rooms are ok, but the bathroom is very small. On the other hand, who wants to stay at the bathroom all day? :)



The toiletries are dispenser soap, shampoo, conditioner and facial wash. You also get tooth-brushes, combs etc...etc... Good hygiene is very important in Japan!



There is a fridge/minibar. I stuffed some food into it and it worked perfect (not too small) and it is cold enough.



There is a pool here and it costs 1000 yen. So far I haven't used it, but I may try it out later. It is big and there are lots of swimmers using it. It looks like a pool for professional swimmers.

The breakfast is ok. Not Conrad-standard, but egg (you will get your own egg cooked while waiting) and bacon, ham, salad and Japanese breakfast.