Saturday, October 13, 2012

Yokohama 横浜: Day 3 ♡

 Started off the day with the best breakfast/meal of the trip, a Japanese breakfast! ♡
The restaurant was Oshima at Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay.
By the way, this is a picture of the table beside us that had already finished their meal ^^

 The breakfast set had so many dishes: fish, scallop, tamagoyaki, tofu, soup, rice, tsukemono...

It even had one of my favorites, mentaiko!!
I love mentaiko! And every time I'm in Japan I'll buy mentaiko onigiri from conbinis^^
There's just something about mentaiko that makes it so tasty, especially with rice!
Needless to day, breakfast was delectable and extremely filling, it was more like a brunch to us!

After breakfast we checked out, left our luggage at the hotel and headed to Motomachi 元町, a shopping street. It's located very near Chinatown, you get off at the same train station.

Motomachi is a lovely cobblestone street that closes entry to traffic from 11am on weekends. We reached slightly before 11am, when they were just about the close off access for cars! The street is lined with pretty plants and flowers, which is always a plus point as greenery adds scenery. You will also be spoilt for choice by the many patisseries selling delectable cakes and pastries!

Adorable dogs and children are a common sight, as people flock here during the weekends to leisurely stroll  along the street. This cutie was somewhat reluctant to be pulled along by its owner and kept running here and there!

Halloween-themed chocolates at Godiva! 

Pretty cutlery...and very expensive! 

Colorful and cute umbrellas with animal heads as the handles! 

Cute dog with a pink shirt, resting on a bench^^ 

 ♡ Beautiful buddy resting outside a store

Spotted at a drugstore: limited edition pink Hello Kitty packaged D.U.P eyelash glue!! I thought last year's limited-edition pink packaging was cute, but this year it's not only pink, but Hello Kitty as well! I didn't get it though, I still have lots of tubes to use up...

Stopped for a short tea break, 1st montblanc of the day.
Montblanc is one of my favorite patisseries! ♡

This was kind of a scam, we wanted to just order cakes, but then the lady said we had to get drinks too, as it's part of a set (there wasn't a proper menu, you select cakes from the display). And the drinks cost more than the cake! But oh well, tea breaks are always nice!

 Two collies in a pram....I don't know why.

Yokohama Doll Museum ♡
Take caution when coming at night, the dolls behind the glass will scare you!
There was a doll near the entrance that was eerily lifelike, like a child.
Even my camera's face/smile detector detected it.

Marine Tower, a popular symbol of Yokohama. 
Built as a lighthouse in 1961, it is now a popular venue for holding weddings! They even have a special web-page regarding holding weddings there. Illuminated at night, the tower has restaurants, cafes and bars, and is popular spot for night dates.

Couldn't leave Yokohama without visiting Donki

Halloween Haribo
There were tons of Halloween-related goodies outside Donki. And all around Yokohama like candy stores, supermarkets and even in malls like Akarenga and Colette Mare. Wish Singapore could have that too!

Headed back to the hotel to dump stuff in our luggage, and on the way back saw some university students performing in Queen's Square (mall linked to Minatomirai station). Students from the flamenco club of one of Yokohama's universities! 

There's an area in Queen's Square called Minatomirai 109, which has a bunch of 109 brands like Cecil McBee, Esperanza, Dazzlin, Glad News...etc.

After that we headed over to Cosmo World, a small theme-park located by the bay. Here you can find rides, take purikura, play UFO catcher machines and Gashapon capsule toy dispensers. The arcade area had UFO catcher machines...which we didn't try^^

The main point of going to the arcade was to take purikura! 

There were also rides like this spinning thing which I would have loved to try, I love exciting/thrilling rides! 

And the main reason we went: to ride the Cosmo Clock 21, the world's largest clock, that's also a Ferris wheel! Standing at 112.5m, it has 60 passenger cars and takes 15 minutes to complete one rotation. After looking at it everyday since we got to Yokohama (our hotel rooms had views facing the bay and the Ferris wheel!), we just had to ride it.  

 At the wheel goes round, you can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of the Minatomirai area! 

  

Another mall in the area, World Porters. 

And Akarenga again ♡

Yokohama Oktoberfest, which was held right outside Akarenga!
Admission to the premises is 200yen, food and drinks are separate costs. 

Held annually at the Redbrick Warehouse, the event recreates the authentic Oktoberfest atmosphere of the Munich festivals.

There was a large selection of locally brewed Japanese beers and authentic German beers specially flown in.


And there was also the variety of German food like wurst and sauerkraut, and not forgetting the entertaining live band; the event was so much fun! I loooove sauerkraut, it's just so delicious!

Kanpai! 

Headed into Akarenga for more food cos the queues at Oktoberfest were crazy long and crammed. 
This is Kiyoken 崎陽軒, they make famous Yokohama shuumai/siew mai.

This is how Japanese shuumai looks like...very different from Singapore/Hong Kong siew mai! 
But it's sooo tasty! The skin is thin and the meat is juicy...
Now I will buy Kiyoken shuumai whenever I go to Japan!

Also got a special autumn bentou set. The kanji in the middle is "aki", the word for autumn. 



Montblanc #2 of the day, from Bashamichi Ice. This one is ice-cream!
It's soft serve vanilla ice-cream in the center, covered by chestnut cream on the outside ♡

Pan Pacific at night. 

Colorful lights of the amusement park rides reflected in the water ♡ 

Montblanc #3 of the day, along with green tea float! 
Last meal of the day before heading to Haneda airport :(

One of the purikura we took ♡

4 comments:

  1. Omg the doggies are so cute =]
    And that Hello Kitty lash glue!!
    Montblancs look yummy...
    Seems like Yokohama is a fun place =]

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    1. So much fun ♡ The montblancs were so good, it's hard to find montblancs in Singapore, but they're everywhere in Japan!

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  2. which camera do you use? the pictures look pretty :)

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    1. Hey, I'm using an Olympus Pen Mini EPM-1 :)
      Posted about it here: http://ciramisu.blogspot.com/2012/04/blinging-camera.html

      But for most of the pictures I wasn't using the kit lens, but instead a borrowed 45mm f1.8 prime lens, which blurs the background ♡

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