First Saturday Of Marching Around Tokyo

Haven’t slept well the night before but I wanted to go out because it might be my last chance to see the plum blossoms. Plus, it’s been a while since I went out to go to a park in Tokyo. This winter if I’m not traveling out of town, I’d be in the city meeting with friends. And this meeting also ends up with eating. 😅

I also needed an excuse to ride the train with my partner. His work schedule isn’t fixed, so it’s only a few times that he would be taking the noon time train. Call it a train date or whatever, I’m happy with spending time with him even just like this.

The park was around 30 min train ride away from home and when I arrived there, I saw some security personnel, more like foot traffic personnel guiding the people in. They’re clearly foreigners which is unusual to see in Japan.

I actually came to the park to take photos with my phone. It’s plum season and I really like plums.. in my drinks. Plum wine is my goto drink when drinking with friends or coworkers. 😅 So I figured I should also see how it blooms. Does it affect my drinking? I’m not so sure. 😂

While in the middle of photowalking, I felt pain in my foot. Not again?! 😩

I thought I was finally healing but the sensation of pain still exists. It has become hard to walk around so I decided to stop by at a cafe before going to my next destination. I couldn’t find a good one and I remembered Starbucks was just beside the ticket gate and have new offerings for the season, so I went there.

While waiting for my coffee, I was scrolling the app and found out they have this “My Passport” detailing all the Starbucks you’ve been to. Of course it doesn’t count the places where I didn’t use my SB card so the map is missing those places. Now it has become my goal to complete the starbucks quest in every prefecture in the country. 😂 What will I gain from it? A whole lot of starbucks drinks and an empty wallet I guess.

I figured I was well rested enough so off I went to Roppongi Hills for some window shopping. At this point, walking to the train’s platform, I was limping already. I pretended I was fine of course. 😂

I reached Roppongi but the whole building where I wanted to go to was closed. Ugh, I should have chose the Harajuku store but that would require a lot of walking to 2 different shops. Well, at least the other shop was opened so I did my window shopping. It was only window shopping because I left the store without getting anything. What an achievement 😂

Since I had time to spare, I did one turn of walking around the mall. I saw Tokyo Tower from here and figured I have lots of photos of the tower from this place already so I didn’t need another but when I saw its colorful lights tonight, I took back my words: I needed one more photo of it tonight. 😂🗼

Nothing interesting to buy here (actually Roppongi Hills is known for its high brands and my wallet would break if I buy something here).

Time to go to Shinjuku so took the train to Ebisu to change trains. In Ebisu though, I figured before heading to Shinjuku, I should buy the cake here. It’s my friend’s birthday and we wanted to surprise him with a cake. Since I was the only one not with them yet, I was assigned to get it.

Before getting the cake, I thought of buying a present for him so I went up to the mall only to buy something not for him but for me. LOL

I was so thirsty so when I reached the mall, there was a tea shop that offered lots of free tasting. I grabbed a cup and started drinking from the containers. It’s kinda rude to just leave without buying anything so I bought 2 packs of tea. I’m happy with my purchase but this is really my problem - if I do free taste, I would think it would be rude to leave without buying. I should change this mindset but I’ve been like this since I don’t know when. 😂

Since I already got a bag, I figured I should also buy some snacks. I miss the taste of dried mangoes from Cebu so I got myself that.

I couldn’t find a good gift so I went downstairs and did my mission. The cake I bought though wasn’t really a birthday cake because it was a Hina Matsuri cake, which is being celebrated and for girls. 😂 I figured it would be funny to give that to my friend so I got it. Anything cake with candles pass as birthday cake I guess. 😂

The night ended in Shinjuku where I met with friends. We had dinner at Din Tai Fung but they didn’t allow us to give the cake so we stopped by in the usual spot to surprise the birthday celebrant. Glad he liked the cake and the simple surprise. 🥳

It was such a long day for me because of my foot swelling. Even with that, I managed to do 15k steps which I’m a little bit proud of. 🥳

Thanks for reading!
じゃあまたね！

_{All photos are taken by my phone unless stated otherwise.}

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Walking,Photowalking