Practically outside my doorstep and underneath my view, I had somehow not made it out to walk around one of the most famous and renowned Japanese Gardens in the area. Fortunately, the timing and weather worked out for me to finally take a peek.
Onsens were probably one of the biggest things I was looking forward to, and it certainly exceeded my expectations. Onsens are essentially hot springs, but the experience is quite different than sitting in a hot tub. It's uniquely a cultural experience, and if you're willing to immerse yourself in the tradition, I think you'll find it as enjoyable as I did.
Well, you can read about onsens on the onsen Wikipedia page.
Part 1, Part 2
This is a continuation of Day 10, and of this earlier post:
http://wakeeatsleep.posterous.com/onsen-and-ryokan-minakami-town-part-1
Let's talk about the food that I enjoyed at Minakamikan. The image above is from their website. Your ryokan accommodation will typically provide you with dinner and breakfast as part of a one night stay. You'll be asked when you want dinner and breakfast served. I elected for a 7 pm dinner, and an 8 am breakfast. It would give me enough time to sneak in a bath and some onsen time before dinner. The dinner will be set up for you in your room. I left my room before 7 so that I could enjoy the small thrill of returning to find dinner prepared.
http://wakeeatsleep.posterous.com/onsen-and-ryokan-minakami-town-part-1
Sufficiently powered up by a delicious breakfast, I decided to see if I could find some interesting shops in Harajuku before my trip out of Tokyo later in the afternoon.Here's the Laforet department store / museum: 
So you may wonder, did I have a set itinerary down to the hour, or did I make stuff up as I went along? Well, sometimes I had a set agenda, and other times I just had the general idea to wander into a particular neighborhood. And other times? Well, sometimes you get inspiration from the most unexpected of sources. I don't know if years of watching WGN Morning News made me more predisposed to watch morning news shows where everyone looks like they're having a great time hanging out. After about a day or two of channel surfing, I settled in with this crew for the duration of my trip.
Palm Sunday! Part of the day was going to be taken up by mass and Holy Thursday practice, so it was time to load up with a quick breakfast. This picture shouldn't surprise some of you.
Any guesses to what I had for breakfast?Oddly, the day I thought to mention ramen, the Tribune unleashed an article about it as well:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/ct-play-0415-ramen-noodles-20100415,0,4810475.story Until I discover otherwise, ramen in the Chicagoland area will begin and end with Santouka at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights.
If you somehow cannot make it out there, then my two Chicago recommendations are both in River North: Cocoro and Ginza.I would like to recommend Takashi, but your ramen cravings will have to match the fact that it's only available on Sundays at lunchtime. Other restaurants don't qualify for now. You may have a great interpretation of ramen, but this is truly about satisfying a craving, not trying to create a new sensation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/ct-play-0415-ramen-noodles-20100415,0,4810475.story Until I discover otherwise, ramen in the Chicagoland area will begin and end with Santouka at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights.
Saturday was quite a day in a lot of ways. It was my birthday, I got to go to TAF (Part One and Part Two) and went to the Ramuen Museum (Unlocking a craving for ramen that I wasn't apparent until I got back and found that Chicago doesn't have as many decent places as you would think for ramen. Absence makes the heart grow fonder I suppose!) At this point, I was enjoying / paying the price for my solo adventuring.Without another person, you can change your plans on a whim. (But it also becomes easy to set no plans at all, which can be bad.) Without another person, you can go at any pace that you'd like. (But it also became easy to go at a rapid pace without anyone to encourage you to take a break. I had to start forcing myself to take breaks at this point.) The only other note about this day was that I had a really tasty breakfast sandwich that morning from the local conbini (convenience store). I took a bite into eat before I even realized I hadn't snapped the picture yet.
-- day 8 end --
