10th April 2009 - All over Tokyo

This morning we decided to head off to Ueno to visit one of Tokyo City's major parks. We stopped off at Ueno station where we were greeted with the sweet buttery scent of fresh bakeries crafting their arts. The main bakery at Ueno station was Andersons and yes the choices they had there were pretty vast...

The below were our selections at Andersons... a sourdough roll with melted cheese and herb, a potato roll (we didn't know it was potato at the time... SURPRISE!) and an Almond and Custard danish. The verdict? The Danish was by far the best danish we've ever had... hands down. The pastry was tasty, crispy yet fluffy and light... Hard to explain but it is definitely worth trying if you happen to be in Ueno station for some reason.

After getting lost in the labrynth of underground tunnels, we finally made our way to Ueno Park... We were disappointed to be about a week or two too late to view the cherry blossoms in this park in their full glory but it was still nice.

Here's a pic of a really nice baby maple tree like one we have back at Ee Laine's parents place.
And some more pics of varous areas of the park

For some reason there's a massive whale in the middle of nowhere.

There was an exhibit at the Museum of Western Art which featured some works from the Louvre but we didn't have the time to see it.

At the traffic light across from the museum, we uncovered yet another moment of awe... A traffic light that tells pedestrians how long they have to wait before it's their turn... An0 upside down pyramid is used to indicate the time left until the lights change. GENIUS!

After we finished with the park, we made our way to Akihabara (also known as Electric Town). This suburb is full of Electronics and hobby/comic superstores that take up 10-15 levels of a towering skyscraper.

It really is a paradise which appeals to the boy within each man (as you won't see actual boys in this town - most of the people in the comic book shops are aged 20+)

At the base of one of these towers was a small grocery store.. Both Ee Laine and I were in awe of the quality of their produce. I mean I've been told that Australia has some of the best produce in the world and I've believed that for as long as I can remember. All that goes out the window when you see this:

These Strawberries didn't have a BLEMISH... They were identically sized.. and they were PERFECT. In fact, they were so perfect that they heavily discounted (50% off) one box which had ONE slightly bruised Strawberry in the punnet. A punnet of these strawberries would set you back 400Y or about $5.50 AUD

Next stop was Tokyo Station... We've rushed past this station previously because it was just too busy for us to walk around here during our previous trip. At the exit of the subway was the basement of a boutique shopping centre which had a selection of premium Japanese desserts and sweets (known locally as Mochi - They are glutonous balls with sweet centres made out of beans)

Just when we thought we'd seen an impressive collection of desserts... We were in awe of this collection from a neighbouring shopping centre called Daimaru:

There was a MASSIVE queue at the entrance for one of the kiosks which sold layer cakes.
We didn't get a good look at the store as it was too busy at the time but we were able to cover the rest of the store dedicated to overdose your sweet tooth (this section was about the size of a football field).

We then made our way back to Shibuya as we hadn't covered the other 2 corners on that 4 corner strip the night before.

Here's what that crazy intersection looks like during the day (still a stupid amount of people during off peak periods) That tower in the distance is Shibuya 109 which is probably THE fashion precinct for young women... There were 13 floors of contemporary ladies fashion and it was a bit too trendy for us conservative Aussie folk. The fashion in that building makes us Aussies look like we're dressed from a wardrobe belonging to the middle ages.

Unfortunately I was too distracted to take pics inside the complex... but boys.. if you want to leave your GF somewhere whilst you go exploring on your own.. this building is the spot for you! We lost about 4 hours in there without knowing it.

The final stop of the day was Harajuku which is the punk/goth capital of Japan. The main strip has a whole heap of wierd and wonderful garments and some are priced quite reasonably in this stretch (I picked up a jacket here for 5000Y which equates to about $70AUD).

Before we knew it, it was night time and there was a building which caught my eye.. The Audi dealership:

We walked into one of the shops in the premium end of Harajuku and the garments could feed a small African nation for a year (There was a "nice" jacket in there for about $5000AUD)

Before we headed back to our hotel in Otsuka, we stopped by an Italian Restaurant in Harajuku for dinner (it was about 8:30pm by now) to see how their Italian food rated. This restaurant was called La Pausa and it had a pretty tacky Italian decore.

We ordered the prawn spaghetti with pink cream sauce as well as a pepperoni pizza.

The Spaghetti was too raw and undercooked (almost crunchy) but the prawns were nice. The sauce was slightly too bland for my liking so as an overall I'd give them 5/10 for their efforts.
The pizza on the other hand was a different story. It was a wood fired pizza and the portion was quite generous. The base was super thin yet very very crunchy/crispy. Surprisingly, even though they used pepperoni, there was no excess oil (as you'd expect from a pepperoni pizza) so the base retained it's consistency and did not get soggy or chewy. It is a big call but I'd say it was one of the best Pepperoni pizzas I've had... ever.