Wednesday, September 17, 2014
We sailed into Tokyo harbor around lunchtime to the sounds of a brass band playing on the dock. It was not long before the ship was docked and cleared and our friend Dale made her way aboard. We had a good natter and catch-up during the afternoon. As evening approached, Stephen’s mum boarded the ship to big hugs and kisses. So nice to see “mum” again and it was not long before a cork was popped from a bottle of champagne and we were celebrating with a wee drink.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
We went for a long walk around Tokyo. Doing a little window shopping and exploring of the Roppongi district.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Caroline headed into town for some window shopping. Otherwise it was a relaxing day.
The highlight for the day however was an absolutely amazing dinner, in a small tempura restaurant, that Peter arranged. The chef, supported by his father, mother and wife, prepared a multi-course feast for us. And only us, as the restaurant was tiny and our small group occupied most of the bar that looked over the kitchen. Although the Japanese wine came in small bottles, it was quite drinkable. The restaurant has been owned by the same family since it was established 1885.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Spent the morning doing a little packing. We packed one suitcase for the return trip to Belgium and left one suitcase load of clothes behind for when we return in November. Stephen played IT support engineer for Peter and Dale. Dale has prepared a nice little blog which includes Tokyo and can be found here. Mum kindly lent us her Mac Air. So now we are a two Mac Air family.
We had a nice last lunch with Mum and Dale. In the afternoon we headed off to find our hotel for the evening, check-in and drop off our luggage. We decided to stay in a hotel on our final evening as The World was sailing at 8:30am and we wanted to avoid the associated disembarkation hassles. We walked around Tokyo in the afternoon just exploring a little more. The late afternoon appearance of rain forced us off the streets and back to the The World.
We had a marvelous last dinner with the two Peters, Stephanie, Dale, Eric and Mum. As the evening wore on, it became clear that it was time to leave The World and head to our small hotel room for the night. Our trip on the The World was absolutely fabulous, and it was a little hard to believe it was all coming to an end. The good news, we will be back in 6 weeks when the boat sails down the coast of Vietnam.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Up early-ish to catch our flight back to Belgium. We trundled our suitcase through the streets of Tokyo to the nearby monorail station. From here we took the short 15 minute ride to the Haneda Airport.
We had a great stay in Tokyo and will surely be back one day.
