We met Nik's girlfriend, Megumi, for an amazing lunch on the way to Roppongi Hills, where we met up with her friend Misa. Roppongi Hills is an incredibly upscale shopping district in Tokyo, even more upscale than the Ginza. I couldn't afford to look at the stores. We passed by a German-influenced illumination display, honoring 150 years of German-Japanese friendship. It was really beautiful and seemed traditional (I'm going to run it by my German friend to test its authenticity). In the first two pictures you can see Japanese people chowing down on dark lager and brats, as well as a lovely carved statue with figurines and candles that constantly turned on a podium.
Misa was hungry so we got her a lunch snack, and when Matt saw a bagel place he succumbed to his Jewishness. Pictured is his bagel with cream cheese and lox, which he ate in the face of Christmas with Nik.
Roppongi Hills also has many beautiful sculptures, including a giant spider of which I didn't get a photo. To the left you can see one of my favorites. It's a very large fountain-wall that pours into rocks (and I hope recycles its water). Behind the fountain is a wooden path surrounded by gardens. It feels like a Wonderland adventure, because the path is relatively hidden and comes out at the next sculpture.
The picture to the left shows the following sculpture: an enormous rose. The gazebo directly beside it provides a bit of character as well as perspective for how big the rose is. I liked the way the colors of the sunset appeared behind the structures. Behind them is the Tokyo skyline, and Tokyo Tower is just barely viewable beside the gazebo.
Darkness comes on very quickly and at an obscenely early hour these days in Japan. Soon we found ourselves walking in a bedazzled landscape of lighted trees. Well, "walking" might be not quite the right way to describe it. The crowds were so great, the best way to get anywhere was to try to jump into a stream of people going the direction you thought you might want to go, too, riding the wave to the next destination. Crossing a street we got stuck behind people taking a picture of all the trees with Tokyo Tower lit up between them. The cars started honking impatiently and tried very hard to run us over, but Nik got a great picture!
After we'd had enough crowds, we picked up and went to Shibuya for dinner. Misa lives nearby and knows the area very well, so she acted as guide and led us directly to an amazing place. We walked in and saw the cherry blossom tree pictured to the left. It created a beautiful ambiance that carried through the meal. The severs were just wonderful, always asking the chefs what foods were gluten-free. Sometimes they prepared me special options that they knew were definitely safe, like a great seared tuna and spring mix with light balsamic dressing appetizer.
We drank Jasmine plum wine, which is the best plum wine I've had to date. I highly recommend it. We shared tons of great food and still wanted dessert, especially when we saw the pictures. There wasn't much safe for me to eat, but it was all gorgeous. I don't usually take pictures of my food, but this required it.
First, this is the dessert trio that Matt and Nik shared (I also admit to taking some). The white dessert with the sprig on it is a salty vanilla ice cream. Next to it, the green dessert is a green tea ice cream with a mochi shell, chocolate and raspberries. The last one is a white chocolate coffee ice cream with tiramisu.
My dessert was brought in what appeared to be a space pod. After making the requisite landing noises, I opened the pod to reveal my cheesecake-flavored dessert. Topped with tapioca, mint, pineapple, honey, and strawberries, it was delectable.After dinner, we went to karaoke. Everyone sang tons of great songs, in English and Japanese. Misa and Megumi rocked out on some songs together and it was great fun to listen as they are both solid singers. Matt and I did some solo work and then teamed up for "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes. We were both super excited because the karaoke place in Gifu (same chain) doesn't have any Pipettes. Below is an embarrassing video Nik shot of us singing together. We sang for an hour and a half before reluctantly pulling ourselves away to catch the last train home.
Comments
Post a Comment