Woke up early to do laundry (which was very easy with laundry availability being shown on the tv!), letting us be nearly first in line for Mitsui Garden breakfast. Initially, we were slightly disappointed that tamagogohan wasn’t available here, and the line system was a bit chaotic. However, this was more than made up for by the wide variety of fresh rice toppings (pickles, fresh baby fish, mentaiko, mackerel), as well as their special eggs benedict, made with a perfectly poached egg, delicious hollandaise, all nestled on their house made toast. The in house bakery also prepares fresh rolls, croissants, and foccacia. Finally, the coffee and drinks were more plentiful and delicious than at Hotel Gracery.

Finally giving ourselves more of a “rest” day, our only plan was to go for a walk in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, and then climb at B Pump Ogikubo. Yes, we are not very good at rest days. The garden was beautiful and lovingly designed, with a perfect path that we ran down, while appreciating the natural beauty. The major highlights were a stunning display of roses from all over the world, and a way too good for a public park cafe nestled naturally into the center of the park. Obviously we needed the caffeine for going climbing.

After a short train ride, we found B Pump on the 4th floor above a McDo’s. The space was quite a bit smaller than I expected for such a well known gym, but still a formidable amount of climbing and angles. We were prepared for it being sandbagged, and sandbagged it was. More importantly though, you didn’t feel concerned about the grades, cause nearly everything except for the easiest problems were exactly that: problems. There was a great balance of power, tension, tactics, and technique, such that nothing ever felt short of an accomplishment. Great movement, non heinous cruxes, and a wide variet of styles.

As far as community feel, I think it was big enough that we didn’t get a sense of a tight community; it felt similar to Mesa, where a few disparate groups climbed together, but there wasn’t much gambatte or cross group collaboration. Of course, this could have been due to the random time of day we were there, and night times might be a totally different feel.

Lu was famished, so we stopped in a mall restaurant called Tsukimi, which at 3.2 and about $10 per meal, cemented just how ubiquitous fantastic food is in Japan. Most similar feel to Wa Dining Okan, but just across the board top notch quality. Perfect rice, egg souffle that was as silky as tofu, primely fried karaage, and a great sampling of okazu (side dishes).

After a bit of local shopping, we made our way back to Mitsui Garden for our reservation at their Italian inspired restaurant, E’volta. It was a prix fixe menu for ~$70 a head, and for the price, was absolutely brilliant. Apart from the service being stellar, the food was dynamic and inventive, and they even had a variety of homemade alcoholic drinks, including a house beer, limoncello, basilcello, and sangria. I tried the beer and the basilcello, and both were delicious. The basilcello especially was dangerously tasty.

Finally, I nightcapped with a vending machine Asahi pint for only 320 yen, an absolute steal. Drinking Asahi in bed while watching DTS was a hazy highlight.

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