Today we had a superb day in Yokohama! We were a bit late getting up because I guess the drinks from last night made us a bit sleepy. We had to activate our JR Rail Passes as well so that took up time. By the time we made it to Yokohama (which is about 40mins outside of Tokyo) it was around 11:30am.
We headed straight for the ramen museum which was easy to find. It was only ¥300 to get in and inside there are three levels with the bottom two decorated like a 1950's townhouse complex except it's full of ramen shops!!
Our first choice was a pork broth based one where we ordered mini servings. It was a mild broth and not very memorable.
In between ramens, we explored the gift shop on the top level. Shannon bought a ramen keyring for a friend but I didn't buy anything. There were some cool "make your own box of ramen" stalls but I wasn't tempted.
We went back downstairs for our second lot of ramen. This shop did a salt slash soy based broth and this one was absolutely delicious. Definitely one of the better ones I have eaten. We also ordered gyoza with this and it came out in two giant gyoza! Like almost fist size giant. Also very tasty though.
Shannon initially had high hopes for three ramens but after two we were pretty satisfied so we left the museum for our next stop. But not before I used the toilet where I was very excited to actually use a bidet for the first time! Something I was pleasantly surprised about and will do again!
We had stopped at an information centre when we first got to Yokohama station so we had a few ideas of what to do next. We settled for Orbi which was a BBC and Sega endeavour where they had set up an interactive animal and nature exhibit.
It took us a while to get there due to some train mishaps but once we got to the correct station we literally only had to walk upstairs and we were there. We both enjoyed Orbi and spent the next few hours going through all the different sections. Shannon's favourite was this animal slow motion picture thing where you had to give their movements a try and then come out and watch your recording compared to the animal. It was pretty hilarious to watch. There was also an imax film about the Yellowstone National Park and a 4D gorilla experience and a cool elephant motion experience. It was a good afternoon.
Whilst we enjoyed some afternoon tea we browsed through our information brochures to decide what to do next. In the end we decided to head out to these red brick buildings that had been repurposed into a shopping and dining hub. Apparently it was targeted at hipsters which, let's be honest, is basically our generation so we were interested.
It was probably a 15min walk in the brisk air to get there but it was worth it. There was an ice skating rink and a Christmas market set up outside. Inside the two red brick buildings had eclectic stores full of lots of unique things that we hadn't seen elsewhere.
We had dinner at a Hawaiian burger place that was in one of the buildings that was okay but nothing special. After that we made a few purchases before heading back to the station and then home.
A very nice day and I'm just disappointed that we didn't get to fit more in. Yokohama is definitely a place I'd go back to or live in and recommend to people.