Monday - Cloudy, rainy at night
A quiet day.
Last night, around 10:30, I looked at my husband and said, “I’m going to DVR my shows and go to bed now!” I was exhausted. I’d stayed up much too late on Saturday night, followed by an early morning on Sunday with all day walking around, so I was beat.
Today I felt much better and got up, caught up on my blogs, wrote up a postcard, and of course watched my reality programme! I had breakfast which was a bit odd today. I had only a little of the yogurt I’ve been using for a while and a little of the granola, so I had to mix in their replacements. Usually it is just one at a time that I have to replace or add on, but today, it was both things!
I had a quiet day, really. F called me in the middle to ask if I wanted any import foods, but I’d just been to a store in Niigata, so didn’t need too much.
For lunch I made myself a tortilla with cheese in it and that was nice.
I made pasta with “pick your own sauce” for dinner. I had basil sauce, F had pepperoncino. We were both happy. We also had duck pastrami and shrimp, plus salad with it, so it was quite nice. I planned a nice easy meal for tonight and I’m so glad.
F did the dishes and also put on some bread to share with his mother. He even offered to make tea tonight, which pleased me no end!
We had a nice night basically. Yay!
***Saturday***
So, my trip. It was great. The train ride down there was relaxing and I went to my hotel as soon as I arrived to leave my suitcase. I met up with my friend from the next town and her little boy. We took a bus over to the Furumachi area of Niigata and then met up with some of the other ladies. We had lunch at a lovely buffet place that featured organic food. Afterwards, we had coffee (or tea) in Starbucks before we went our separate ways.
One of my friend, T, show me around the Mitsukoshi department store and we bought tea in a herbal shop. After that, I went to Lupicia and bought teas. A lot of teas! I might not be near a store for a while and I do drink a lot of tea. She offered to drive me back to the station, which I accepted and then we ended up in a Yamaya looking at foreign food! I got a few things there.
She dropped me off near the station and I went to the hotel and checked in. I went out again almost immediately so that I could have dinner. I had terrible luck with dinner places though. The first place I tried didn’t have a non-smoking area, and the waitress led me to a place in the back where the smoke was thick and air was non-existent. Yuck. I asked her for non-smoking but there wasn’t an area for that. After that, I tried to go to another place, but I’d have to wait for 30 minutes and I didn’t want to! Finally, I went to Royal Host. It was in the lobby of the hotel’s building and I got in right away. It wasn’t cheap, but I had a very nice meal. I went for Royal Angus steak with a salad, drink bar, bread and a little gazpacho. It was lovely, the gazpacho I mean. The steak was nice too. I had a small one, not the full size steak.
I hit up a convenience store before I went up to my hotel room for some drinks and munchies. I also bought a movie card on the way to my room. I watched Pompeii which was awful and then re-watched Sunshine on Leith which was wonderful. It sort of balanced. It was late when I finally went to sleep.
***Sunday***
I woke up around 8:30 and dressed. I went for breakfast at the hotel. It was mostly starchy things, but they did have nice yogurt. Back in the room, I packed my things up and watched a bit of Rapture-Palooza which tickled my funny bone. I’d like to watch the rest of it someday.
I checked out, left my bag at the hotel and then went over to the movie theatre in the pouring rain. I saw Jupiter Ascending and it was awful! I kept hoping it would end soon, but it didn’t. Sigh.
I did a lot of “window shopping” after the movie. I was trying to find a new pie pan to replace the one that broke. No luck. Sigh. I had lunch after a search to find a place that I was interested in the food and had room for me. Lunch was pasta, smoked salmon and spinach and was quite nice.
I bought a few postcards, and really, that was about it. I didn’t go to the good bookstore, I didn’t quite have time. Around 4 I started walking to the train station area. I waited in the hotel’s lobby for a while and used their wifi on my phone. Then, I got my suitcase and caught the train home.
F met me, took me to dinner, then grocery shopping and then home. The rest you know. I had a great time in Niigata, but the weather and the not much sleep bit did me in.
That’s it for me. Night!
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