We were flying out of the other Seoul airport Gimpo, this time, which was a little bit closer by train. We hit the tax free desk to get our refunds released, got our bags checked, and headed through security. There weren't many people coming through security so it went pretty fast. No taking off shoes or belts, though which was nice.
The airport lounge was serviceable, with a buffet that had a range of lunch items and some breakfast as well as some instant noodles. I had some ramen that I put some bulgogi beef into, and Meghan had an assortment of items. We tried a couple Korean Minute Made flavors, Maesil (plum) and Mango - they were crazy good. Coca-Cola needs to bring those flavors to the states, for sure.
I made a typo in the Japanese... Whoops
After waiting for a while, it was time to board. We sat down and were surprised to see fairly large entertainment displays in each seat. We started a couple movies we had seen before to pass the hour and a half flight time. When a full lunch of katsudon (pork cutlet on rice), a soybean salad, and a little matcha pudding thing came out, Japan Airlines surprised us again - what airlines give you a full meal on an hour and a half flight?
Electronic Dimming Windows
We arrived in Tokyo in what felt like no time, and headed through immigration to pick up our checked bags. They had a cute little service beagle walking around the baggage claim area sniffing for prohibited items. Customs was equally easy. We made our way to the bus ticket counter, picked up our bus tickets, and walked out to our stop. We were a little confused about the bus that was already at our stop - the attendant tried to tell us we were on the next one, but I thought he meant the people waiting were next - we figured it out the second time he said it.
The bus ride out to Yokohama was about an hour, and had free wifi. We enjoyed the scenery a bit and played a little on our phones until we arrived at our stop. Yumi, Chris's wife, found us as we were getting off the bus. We all grabbed a cab and drove out to their house. It's a super cute unit with all the amazing Japanese features we wish we had, like a fish oven, a water temperature control panel for the Japanese style bath and shower, and a in-ground cooler for storing things that need to be cool but not necessarily refrigerated.
We had a lovely time just sitting and chatting until Chris arrived home from work, when we sat and chatted some more until dinner. Yumi made us a bunch of side dishes and appetizers while Chris picked up some chicken wings. We ate and talked, and then walked down to the local store that had groceries and some pharmacy-like stuff to pick up some fancy re-mineralizing toothpaste we wanted before heading to bed.
On Saturday, we woke up to a nice little breakfast, took our showers, and headed out to Yokohama downtown for a day of strolling and shopping. It was a little rainy, but no downpour.
We walked through a little shopping area that felt very European with narrow roads with shops lining them.
We grabbed some lunch at a place that had coffee and sandwiches, and ate a ton of food. Meghan and I both ordered the Miso Katsu Sandwich, which was amazing - somehow, despite having sauce, the cutlet breading with panko bread crumbs stayed crispy the whole way through. Yumi ordered a mixed sandwich that had egg salad, ham, and cucumbers, and Chris ordered both a fish sandwich and a breakfast toast that was insanely thick and came with a bunch of butter and super sweet bean paste. The waitress offered to cut all our items up into fourths for us when we ordered so it was easy to share it all.
Special orange juice
Iced coffee with soft serve
We walked more through Yokohama, making our way through a beautiful garden in the park next to the bay, through some warehouses that had been turned into shopping stalls, and in some mall-like buildings.
Pokemon Center
We ate dinner at Landmark Tower, which is the tallest building in Japan (though we didn't go up to the higher floors - the food was all on the bottom floors). We ate at a ramen shop that had lots of interesting appetizers. I got a glass of a special summer-release sake from Otokoyama, which makes my favorite sake I've had in the states - it was SUPER good. Yumi ordered some small fish to share and some potato - based mochi cakes. I got some shoyu (soy sauce based) ramen which was really good, Meghan got the uni (sea urchin) soba (also really good), Chris got a miso ramen Hokkaido style with butter and corn, and poor Yumi ordered some soba but it never came out. By the time we realized it wasn't coming (all the dishes came out one by one) it was too late and we were too annoyed by that and a few other small things that she didn't want to wait for them to make it.
We walked back to the train, picked up some stuff at the bakery for Yumi and for breakfast since it was late enough that they were selling everything at 40% off for the day, and made it back home.
Chris and I tried to find that Otokoyama sake at the store on the way back too, but couldn't, so we just opened some he had on hand at the house. After a little while of talking and drinking a bit, we headed off to bed.
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