[Kirk in normal font. Elaine in bold font.]
Today was the first day I slept in. I think I made it to 5:30! Must have been the clear air and evening onsen!
When booking I didn’t realize a full breakfast was included. I’m not talking continental buffet, I’m talking full on hot meal with fancy soup, rice, fish and pork! So good but way too much food!
We had a few hours before checkout so we headed back to the shrines to take pictures in the morning light.
We packed up are stuff and decided to walk down to the train station hoping to book a ride back on the Spacia X train on the Tobu Line. In all our planning we planned our way to Nikko but not our trip from Nikko to Tokyo, doh 🤦🏻♀️
OMG if we stayed another day in Nikko I would have just wanted to walk from the hotel down towards the train station just stopping at each restaurant/stall and eating my way down the hill!
Walking down the hill we came across a few banners advertising the Nikko Icebucks, a local hockey team.
Couldn’t book the Spacia X, all trips back to Tokyo were sold out. We decided to take the limited express Tobu Line as opposed to the JR Line as it was slightly faster, didn’t have any transfers, and all seats are reserved.
Nikko is really small (at least the area we were in). There's a little strip of stores that are tourist-oriented. I saw a hockey team poster, and it was so unexpected to me that I had to find out more. Their office/gym was just a short walk away in a little building.
Went over and asked one of the players who was working-out in front of the building. He went in a grabbed a couple of staffers. And, we used google translate to get me a jersey. It's pretty loud, but it's a great souvenir.
We had some time to kill before our train. Kirk went on a hunt for the Icebucks office. We found the office and happened to run into an athlete stretching before going out for his run. Kirk made a few inquiries and wham, he had himself a jersey. The whole adventure/interaction was totally serendipitous.
At the train station while waiting for our departure, we heard a huffing and hissing sound. It sounded like a steam engine, lo and behold it was one coming into the station. Neither Kirk nor I were fast enough to take any photos :(
At one of the train stops, I saw a dad trying to calm his little boy who was crying. I think his mom was heading off. The train conductor started chatting with him to calm him down.
We got off the train in Asakusa, which is in Tokyo. And, it was packed. Such a wake up compared to quiet little Nikko.
Asakusa was so crowded. With us lugging our carry-ons through the crowds it made it very difficult to enjoy the street vendors. Didn't want to stop anywhere really.
Took a local train to get to the hotel.
We're staying in the BnA Wall Art Hotel. Each room is a designed by a different artist. Elaine and I are staying in the Float room. The kids are in the Play Wall room.
Kyle lost his transit card and had to get a replacement.
After asking various info and ticket booths around Ueno station we found out that replacement Pasmo cards were only available at Metro or bus station counters. We got Kyle his replacement card and he was now on a lookout for a bag to carry his stuff around!
Came across Hinoya store while walking around. Kirk and Kali stayed at the store to look around while Kyle and I went in search of somewhere to eat.
Had dinner at Karasu Theatre in Ueno. One of the few places that allowed kids and had seats. We sat outside under a fan - it was super cold. Kirk and I had to hunch over to avoid the blowing air.
So far, I think the best food we’ve had is from like small restaurants or street food. Problem is we like sitting down to eat so that makes it much harder to find.
Saw this guy passed out alone on the road. His buddies soon came out to look after him.
Back in 2018 we had gone to this little yaktori restaurant on a side street where the chef took an instant liking to Kyle. We had an amazing dinner there having absolutely no idea what we were eating.
While walking around we saw this place and thought it looked really familiar, we checked our blog from our last trip here and confirmed that it was the same restaurant! We took a peek inside to see if the same chef was still working, but it looked like the current chef was a few years younger... Pretty cool that we ran into the same restaurant simply by accident.