Tokyo - Day 7 - 10th Dec 2016 Ikebukuro

We parted ways with Brian's family today as we did not join them for the ski activity in Nagano and headed back to Tokyo, hoping that weather will be kinder to us back in the city :)

It was snowing slightly in the morning when we checked out from the hotel and finally we get to experience snow in our trip :) the temperature was recorded to be -3 degrees when we reached Yudanaka station as we bought tickets to bring us back to Nagano station.

Yudanada station

scene during the train ride towards Nagano station

There are quite a few good shops in Nagano station and I regretted subsequently not getting my working shoes in one of the shops there, thinking that I would be able to find them back in Tokyo..

Maybe next time, I will return to shop here again ;p

We were so happy with our final hotel (Sotetsu Fresa Inn Tokyo -  Kyobashi)  after not getting good night sleep for the last 2 nights.. these beds were so comfortable! And spacious rooms too! Thankfully this was the accommodation for the next 5 nights.

We rested in the room for a while, while getting our clothes washed at the launderette. It took only 30 minutes to wash but the dryer part took us a longer time.

We decided to check out Ikebukuro area for dinner and some shopping.. We found this Kairaku Ikebukuro restaurant that is famous for their gigantic gyoza  which were juicy and delicious.. This place seemed to be filled with the locals as we hardly see any tourists like us dining there..

We didn't expect the gyoza to be so huge and ended up having to finish 8 on top of our ramen!

We wanted to bring the boys to the cats cafe at Tokyu hands in Ikebukuro but they were closed at 730pm! The boys then spent some time in the arcade near Tokyu hands while I did some quick shopping in the vicinity. 

Just one last target to be shot down to win that plush toy!