Right after I got back from HAWAII, my cousin Kristi and good friend Melissa came to Japan to hang out! Actually, I saw Kristi in Hawaii and then we were able to spend more time together in Japan which was awesome!
I worked during the week while they explored Kyoto and Osaka...but on Saturday we all spent the day together in Hakone!! YEEEAHHHHH. We bought the full day round trip ticket to go all over Hakone and it was epic. definitely recommend that if you ever go to Hakone.
We arrived in Hakone...saw fujisan (through some clouds haha!) and rode a boat on lake Ashi!
Mel also looked up this hotel nearby that was having an epic flower festival and it was truly stunning!
Oh, I forgot to mention...we went to Hakone Open Air Museum, which is one of the coolest and most random places I've been to in Japan! We knew we had to take a pic on the Egg sculpture or what I like to call "EGG BED" haha. And we also got some amazing icecream with crunchy honey coated bread at the bottom from Bakery and Table right on lake Ashi. We sat in the sun and soaked up all that glorious weather...and we kept saying "is this real life?!"
We ended our Hakone day at a local onsen recommended by a lady at the train station. It was so relaxing to soak in the steaming hot onsen water and immerse ourselves in the very very Japanese culture of public bathing HAHA.
On Sunday we had a full Tokyo day and hopped on an early train so we didn't waste any time. Our first stop was breakfast...or more like dessert at Dominique Ansel bakery!
This weeks cronut was UNREALLLLLL....something crazy like matcha with vanilla and passion fruit cream ...sooooo gooooood. And the tomato bread, frozen smoore and Amann were amazing PER USUAL. Thank you DOMINIQUE!
I also took Kris and Mel to my favorite view of Shibuya (Hikaria building) and to Nakamegs for some good legit Oni Bus coffee. We then walked through the scramble about 1,000 times taking a bazillion photos and timelapse videos and having the best time ever.
Other things we did were....eat at a bunch of crazy good places (shabu shabu, udon, tempura, etc), did some damage shopping, Mel lost her phone but luckily we found it nicely wrapped at UNIQLO (go Japan!), and a spent plenty of time chatting and catching up. The pic on the LEFT is hilarious because people always tell Mel and I that we look alike...which is 100% true. We turned our twin-ness up a level by matching and trying to stand the same...but let's be real, we don't really have to try hard at all to look alike HAHA. And the pic on the RIGHT is the gift they gave me on the last night they were here....WAHHHHHH. The cutest pouch, my FAVORITE HAND CREAM!, and three pairs of the best kind of socks. Do they know me or do they know me???
Such a blessing to have these two in Tokyo!! come back pls!!!!