Long Sunday Date

7:30 Persuasion
A migraine had put me through the wringer for over a week and I was sure I wouldn’t have enough energy to make it through the day, much less spend it doing things. Tod wheedled and encouraged until I agreed to a full agenda of activities starting with a 90 minute train trip to the beach for breakfast at bills, celebrity chef Bill Granger’s popular restaurant.

10:15 Beach
We arrived a Shichirigahama and learned how popular bills is - there would be no table until 11:45. The restaurant is right on the beach and just near a convenience store, so we grabbed some canned coffee and onigiri and sat down on the sea wall to watch surfers. A tobi falcon scared the hell out of me as it flew low and swooped down a few meters away from us.

11:45 Brunch
Despite its reputation, the food at bills was meh: softly scrambled eggs with as much cream as egg; ricotta pancakes made with the same egg-cream mixture, very little flour, and a too sweet syrup; great fruit with boring Japanese yogurt; and an overdressed salad of spinach, feta, peas and mint. The atmosphere was great, though, and the decor just right for an upscale beach restaurant. I was glad I didn’t see the check.

1:00 Walk
After our rich meal, Tod suggested we walk along the ocean road to Kamakura. It seems quite a distance since there are 6 stops along the Enoden line between Shichirigahama and Kamakura, but Tod assured me only 4km or so. It was a surprisingly hot and sunny day but the walk was pleasant, with lots of beach activities to watch along the way.

2:30 Ack!
After arriving at Kamakura, we stopped for a rest in the shade before walking to the station. A few blocks after abandoning our bench, Tod turned to me and asked if I’d picked up his phone. Um, no. He trotted back to get it, but it was gone. I suggested we walk toward the station and ask at the police box. Tod was sweating as he opened the door and asked if anyone had turned in a pho…the policeman held it up. “This one?” Yay! The relief that spread over Tod’s face was priceless. Five minutes of paperwork to claim the phone and we were done. We celebrated with a coffee and then got on the train where I promptly fell asleep on Tod’s shoulder for ride back into Tokyo.

4:30 Brass & Beer
Our day wasn’t done. We’d reserved seats for Star Trek at the cinema at Roppongi Hills, but we had a couple of hours to spend before the movie started. Roppongi Hills’ plastic commercialism makes my skin crawl, but fortunately the last day of “Beerden Week” was happening, so we got a beer and enjoyed a performance by the Britz and Squash Brass Band.

6:40 Movie
We had excellent seats and the movie was entertaining. I ate a lot of popcorn.

9:00 Dinner
After the movie, we went to Pizzakaya for dinner. We used to eat there weekly, but our habits have changed and it is a rare but enjoyable visit now. We caught up with Derek, saw the new oven in action, and realised that Pizzakaya has been serving pizza for 13 years. We were among the original customers.

10:45 Bed
By the time dinner was over, I was exhausted just the way I imagined in the morning and insisted on a taxi home. Once home, we showered off the sea salt and rolled into bed where I read aloud from a book about reading the OED. Lights out!

Posted by kuri at June 01, 2009 07:23 AM