February being a short month and our being abroad for the first week of it kept my bestie and me from doing our monthly sushi outing. We thought we were going to run out of time but managed to squeeze it in this past Sunday. For a change, we refrained from enjoying saké (I was driving) and our bill was surprisingly small.
On Sundays Kozasa opens for lunch (and only on Sundays) and keeps going until they run out of fish. We got there a little after 2 pm and the place was closed by 3 pm.
The week after I came home from France, I went into the office on Monday then the Tuesday was a national holiday, went back Wednesday and Thursday and pretty much thought I was back to leading my normal uneventful life in Tokyo. NOT.
The Friday came and it was St. Valentine’s Day. It looked OK in the morning and when I went out for lunch with guests at Nobu.
By the time I was going out again to a jazz club in the evening, ha, we had serious snow. Again. That’s two weeks in a row. Unheard of.
Outside of my office building at about 5:15 pm on Friday, February 14, 2014.
But I got to the venue safely and was ready to enjoy the evening.
And onto the next party with my Canadian friend.
We had drunk but not eaten so went to grab a bite. It was before 10 pm and the restaurant we chose, on a Friday night, was deserted we thought they were about to close.
When we came out of the restaurant, we had this terrifyingly beautiful view.
Despite all this I had no trouble getting home on my smoothly run and empty subway (overground trains, forget it). I got home OK but how the streets and my car, building, and everything else were deep in snow concerned me to say the least.
But it was chocolate time, a Valentine’s gift from my staff. 😀
I arrived back in Tokyo from my trip to France in the evening of Friday, February 7th. My trip was uneventful on and off the plane on my way home.
Things changed on the following day after it had started to snow during the night. I had a 10 am gym appointment on the Saturday so went out while the snow was starting to visibly get seriously heavy. Oh, Tokyo, we were in trouble.
Must have been when I went out in the morning.
Later that day when I came home.
That evening looking out my window.
The next day. Plowing time.
I cleared the street in front of my building becuz I figured no one else was going to do it as the neighbor across the street I believe went to live in a nursing home. My second floor neighbor did come out to help but I was already well into it. You had to put the snow somewhere so it ended up on our premises.
Yes, my street was uncovered.
More on my car.
You would want to start making some use of it all.
Sunday, February 9th happened to be the Election Day for the new governor of Tokyo so I had to go out despite all this. Stopped by a nearby Buddhist temple which in the snow is quite pretty.
At the election venue.
At least I had come home by the time it had started to snow. Many of my friends who were coming back from Europe landed either on the Saturday or the Sunday and they went through some hell as we have never had this much snow in Tokyo and though it looks quite peaceful in my pix, the transportation system had no way of functioning. It was bad. And little did we know that this would be repeated the following weekend…
I was staying near the Eiffel Tower and had a view of it from my apartment but it was overcast and it was too far away for one to actually feel the monument. I did not go anywhere near it during the day and it was only in the evening on my way to the airport that I had a proper view of it (though not a proper photo because I was in a moving vehicle).
And I think it looks better at night.
Here follows the “extra”.
At the Air France lounge at CDG.
I flew as I normally do on AF that evening leaving CDG at 11:20 pm. I do not normally eat a full dinner on board because I would opt to eat before flying but that night I did not have enough time for a dinner appointment or do dinner by myself so I ate after we took off. Generally on AF, the appetizers are OK but the mains are never great. This was different which was part of a campaign menu featuring a real chef (and I forget who and am not sure after doing searches) which was quite tasty. I was not planning to touch the dessert but ha! I finished it.
I went to have a meeting during my stay in Paris at the Olympia. The most convenient metro station for me for that was Madeleine where the magnificent church stands.
Lovely Paris.
A blog by Ayako Mathies 