Trip to Gifu

We actually wanted to head back to Tokyo around Saturday noon, but during our Sushi dinner Shun and Atsumi asked us whether we would like to go to Gifu with them to visit Grandma's family. We agreed quickly and ten hours later we were on the highway.

No worries, we were six people in total

I've been to Gifu two times already, but we never actually stayed at Grandma's house, only used the cottage nearby for barbecue and shooting games...

The family (grandma, auntie, uncle, cousin, cousin's wife, their baby and toddler) welcomed us in a heartwarming manner. We drank a very delicious Nihonshu and crazy amounts of beer. Everyone payed lots of attention to our beer glasses and poured as soon as we finished taking one sip. We found a name for it: "the heranai biiru" (beer that doesn't decrease).

Sakuto-kun with Kei

The food was simply delicious! Osetchi, shrimps, squid, homemade rice, meet...

lychees and strawberries with whip cream

Osetchi

Osetchi

Mayo-shrimps

Squid carpaccio

After start drinking at 2pm (we even got served Shochu), we all were pretty drunk and even started making plans to go to Germany altogether. It was hilarious!

Anywho, around 6pm we decided to head back to Nagoya Station since our train tickets were printed for today and the last Shinkansen to Tokyo was leaving at 10pm. But we had so much fun that we decided to stay until at least 7. 

We left happily and drunk (with our pregnant driver) from the pitch-dark countryside and noticed, that we had no gasoline left at all. It took us half an hour to find a gasoline stand in the mountains. By then, it was almost 9pm and we were still miles and miles away from Aichi Prefecture.

I was out from the car sickness-medicine and slept almost all the way through. Then and when I heard Kei talking on the phone with the JR company and Shun talking with his mom to tell her, we would come back for one more night. It was all such a hassle... We needed to go to Chikusa Station first to get the tickets refunded and that took a long time again. By the time we arrived back at the parents' house, we were exhausted. I think I slept for 10 hours straight!

And of course on our way back to Tokyo we could not sit down since all seats were occupied. We were standing for almost two hours (well, me sitting on the suitcase) and I read more than half of my book.

Mt. Fuji

Back in Yotsuya we ate at Hidakaya and then went back home... Finally... To watch LOST Season 6 DVD 1 & 2.

Tomorrow back to work. The vacation was way too short this year. But I think I was still able to relax.

Gyoza, Karaage and Han-Ramen