Tokyo Day 1

We got up in the morning and everything was covered in a thin layer of snow.  As we were eating breakfast the snow was turning to rain and everything was becoming wet slush.  We packed up and checked out and hopped on a train to Tokyo and hoped the weather would improve as the day went on.

We were about 45 minutes into our 2 hour train ride to Tokyo when we realized something was amiss.  The train was stopped at the station for an unusually long time.  The conductor was saying something but we had no idea what.  Eventually we understood that the train was stopped for some reason and would start moving when possible.  Jeff and I made the most of it and had a snack and waited patiently like the rest of the Japanese people on the train.  A couple of them drifted off and found different ways to their destinations.  The conductor continued to give updates we didn't understand.

After about an hour and a half of not moving, we saw the conductor wander past.  We flagged him down and asked when the train was going to start again.  His English was pretty much non-existent but we gathered that he didn't know.  There was the possibility of the train going to the next station but the entire TOBU line was down between where we were at and Tokyo.  Jeff found a station not too far away that was for the JR line and would eventually get us in to Tokyo.  This took a little time to figure out but after about 30 minutes we had plan B and set out with our luggage into the rain.  We were even able to get a refund for our ticket fare from the station we were at to Tokyo.

The walk to the next station took maybe, 20 minutes.  The station was tiny.  It was fully automatic, no people worked there and there was only one platform but, it worked.  We got on the next train and after some changes managed to get ourselves to Tokyo and to our hotel.  The train line shutdown caused us to get to our hotel about 4 hours later than planned and I was feeling pretty exhausted.  Our room was amazing and all I wanted was to lie down for a couple of minutes.  Jeff set off to get dinner reservations set up with the concierge and I took a bath.  After a little bit of time to relax I felt much better.  The weather was horrible with pouring rain and really strong winds.  I was content to just relax a little bit before dinner rather than go exploring.

We had a fantastic dinner at a supposedly famous Shabu-Shabu place.  Shabu-Shabu is where you have a burner in the center of the table and you have thinly sliced beef and vegetables that you cook in the hot water or broth in the center of the table, dip in sauce and eat.  It is delicious and there was a ton of food including two types of noodles, rice and ice cream for dessert.  We took some pictures of this one and I'll do a food blog in the future.

By the time we finished with dinner the wind had died down a bit and we figured out how to get back to the hotel underground so the rain wasn't an issue.  It seems like many Japanese cities have a ton of walkways under the streets and Tokyo is no exception.

A little while after we had gotten back to the room the rain cleared up and so did our view.  Surprise!  Our room with a view really did have an amazing view!  Sometimes its worth the upgrade to spend 1 night for the price of two, lol.  We left the blinds open all night and I enjoyed watching the clouds change throughout the night whenever I rolled over.  It was definitely worth splurging for nice room on the last night of our "Babymoon".

The Tokyo Skytree

City lights

My view from bed