Heading to the suburbs
We spent the morning exploring some more (wonder if this is when Bill saw the monchichis and didn’t tell me?!). We were heading out of the main city today into a little neighboring town which I was very much looking forward to. Our travel navigators, Bill and Mel, mapped our subway/train/monorail route to the simplest option. Or so we thought. Train one, no problem, just lots of people and stairs. Again, super thankful for limited luggage. Even our little luggage seemed to take up an extraordinary amount of space.
Bought tickets and headed off—super simple. Off first train and onto our connection. Nope, not so simple anymore. The little gates require that you put your ticket in and then it pops up on the other side when the pass-through gates open up. Similar to Bart in the Bay Area—-well I assume from what I see on TV as I have never actually ridden Bart. Anyway, Zach went first with me right on his heels. Gate didn’t open but I didn’t notice so bumped right into the poor kid bumping him into the gate making it appear to the security guard that we were pushing it open. Not the case, just unexpected. Anyway, security guard motions for us to go to the counter, our ticket is not good. Ok. Not sure why as we don’t speak Japanese, but do get the gist of what he is saying through gestures. We see that perhaps we need the KK line not JK and the tickets are not compatible? Ok, we go wait in line, somewhat communicate with the nice man who speaks very little English by showing him the address of where we are trying to go. He passes a calculator to us and we pay an additional 780 yen. Ok, whatever, new tickets issued, he very kindly writes down the directions for us. 3 more trains. Ugh. Off we go navigating through the maze of trains, subways and monorails. Surprisingly, we manage without issue to our stop but we still need to exit the station. Through the “gates” again and red light. Here we go again. No clue what happened and how we needed to pay an additional supplement (again) but paid another 180 yen and gates opened.
Thank goodness, open streets, more space to move around, already happy to be here. We are getting used to the 30-minute train estimates on google turning into 1.5 hours. Patience for sure and a good sense of humor. Oh, and lots of yen.
Headed to our next hotel and this one allowed 4 people in a room so we were all together this time. The reviews described it as a “theater” hotel and it had a projector and a huge screen which was quite cool. We knew immediately we would have a movie night and were thankful for Netflix. We dropped our bags and headed out to find some food. Noodles for Melina for sure, and we found a super authentic hole in the wall place. Super small, we sat, owner came to tell us our 2 choices, I asked if anything was vegetarian, no. Zach asked for just noodles, no. Ok, he and I are out, Mel and Bill were like, bring us whatever. Z and I went to the supermarket down the street and wandered the aisles for some time. Zach had both of the Japanese women helping him find noodles without fish. They succeed but said he would have to eat pork, fine, he was OK with it. I was not, so I opted for a bag of nuts, popcorn - hoping it was not some variety of fish flavor - an apple, and ice cream for both of us. We headed to a nearby park to eat.
Met up with Bill and Mel and they said their food was delicious. I guess the place got pretty crowded and people line up behind you for your stool. So glad Z and I opted for the park where I had my 12 inches of personal space. We explored our neighborhood and headed back for an early movie night. The next day was a long travel day. Before calling it a night we did figure out the transportation for the airport though - walk to the bus stop (2 minutes), wait on the edge (there was no sidewalk) and not get hit by a bike, moped or car, 280 yen—exact change only —7 minute bus ride, less than 3 miles. Ok, got it, we will allow an hour. Off to bed.
