02.03.2011

Today was our last day in Japan.  We spent most of the day traveling back to Narita to stay the night at a hotel for our flight tomorrow morning.  We started the day at Mister Donut with Hisae & Norio.  We each had noodles for lunch there, followed by donuts & coffee...many coffees.  I think we each had three refills, partly because it was warm & tasty, but also partly because leaving meant saying goodbye.  


After lunch, we drove to the train station.  We only had minutes to spare, which resulted in a mad dash to the train (carrying our extra luggage made a 'dash' more of a crawl) and quick goodbyes.  We took a local train (comparable to Chicago's Metra) to a bullet train to another train and then took a bus to our hotel...it was about an hour ride on each train which made for an exhausting trip.  We had visions of heading into the city of Narita for one last hurrah in Japan, but decided instead to eat dinner at the hotel.  The food was good and the short elevator ride up to our beds was better!  


My favorite part of dinner was dessert...sukura ice cream!  Sakura (cherry blossom) flavor was in full force during our stay in Japan--Mister Donut had the donut, Starbucks had a latte, a scone & a macaroon (I tried all three!), sakura KitKats and other candies, rice balls...anything you could think of had this sweet floral flavor.  By the end of the month, the cherry blossoms will be in full force in Japan.  Next year, I want to visit during this season :)  Anyway, back to dessert--

--yum!