Day Three of Tokyo- Tsukiji Fish Market
We were supposed to be up at 5 AM so we could see all the fishermen sell their fresh fish in an auction at the Tsukiji fish market. 5 AM, really??? We woke up much later than that, had breakfast and got to the market around 10. My husband was quite disappointed but I reminded him, the fish will still be fresh enough for us to enjoy the sushi there. We started walking through the small alleys lined with small outside stores full of fresh produce and lots of samples. We walked some more and discovered a whole lot of small sushi restaurants. Some had long lines, I decided to join one of them. As we waited, it became quite clear it would take a long time. After standing in line for over half an hour, we decided to leave and go next door- with a much smaller line. We later realized the more popular one was cheaper- but it was so worth paying the extra money for not standing in line. We had super fresh sushi which was delicious.
After buying some souveniers, we took a subway to one of the biggest department stores- Seibu . The bottom two floors are lined with food stalls. I have never seen anything like that ever in my life. The variety of foods, snacks, desserts, breads, drinks- you name it and they had it. Lots of nibbles as well. We spent a good hour if not more there and took a couple of pastries back to our hotel room.
After resting we ventured out to the Ginza area- which is the fifth avenue of Tokyo. Super wide roads, very clean and lots and lots of very expensive stores. It was very nice to window shop. We started looking for a restaurant- not the one where we had to pay $300 per person- but a regular one. I wanted beef- Japanese premium beef. After a lot of searching, we found a grill restaurant. The problem was we couldn’t tell where it was. It had a sign outside a building but it wasn’t clear exactly where it was. After a lot of guessing and asking someone, we figured out it was on the first floor but in the back of four other restaurants- really- it almost seemed like we were walking through a cave. Eventually we got to a pleasant looking place where I had the best beef I have ever tasted. It was tender, perfectly cooked and the most delicious thing ever. A perfect end to a great day. Tomorrow we are headed to Kyoto via bullet train. Should be very interesting.. stay tuned….
