February 14th, 2023
On our second day in Tokyo, we slept in again and went on an excursion after breakfast. We wanted to see Luise’s university in Tsukuba today and also pick up her suitcase for the rest of the trip from there.
Around noon we got on the Tsukuba Express to … exactly: Tsukuba and went to her university. From Tsukuba Center, where the train arrives and the bus station is located, we walked up the whole campus area (about 5km). Halfway up, we first had a decent coffee at the Starbucks at the university library. In our hotel there was only instant coffee - but thank God there is a Starbucks on every second corner in Japan.
After the detailed sightseeing tour of the modern Tsukuba University, we went back to Tokyo. We went to Tsukuba Center by bus, because we picked up Luise’s suitcase from her room for our further journey. Afterwards we took the Tsukuba Express back to Asakusa. We then took the elevator to the roof terrace in our hotel, the view was amazing:
But unfortunately it was windy and cold, so we returned to our room relatively quickly. Until dinner we still had some time. For 20:00 Luise had reserved a table for us in a shabu-shabu restaurant.
Shabu shabu (Japanese しゃぶしゃぶ) also shabushabu, onomatopoeic after the sound made during preparation) is the Japanese version of fondue chinoise. You get a pot with two different soups in which you can cook vegetables and meat. In our restaurant we had “all you can eat” and “all you can drink”, which we took plenty of advantage of.
One could order there by mobile phone in a period of 2 hours arbitrarily meat, vegetables and drinks (also alcoholic!). I had then ordered sake without further ado. Since I could not decide on the temperature, I ordered 2 carafes, one cold, the other warm. I tried both and what can I say: the stuff is not so bad! Luise and I also enjoyed a delicious dessert.
On the way back to our hotel, SkyTree wished us “Happy Valentine” for Valentine’s Day.
