Posting for Wednesday

The alarm went off at 6:45. I was awake before that, but I slept better than I had the night before. I took a shower and went to the internet room to skim e-mail. Faye had sent me a message that my mom broke her wrist. I was typing her a reply when the time ran out and I had to leave to meet the others for breakfast. I had 4 sunnyside up eggs and fruit. I realized I had left my credit card in the room, so I had to dash up there before I could pay. We lingered over breakfast a while longer, and then went upstairs to prepare to leave. Sue lent me her cardigan because I packed short sleeves, thinking it would be as warm as last year. When we left the room, we put up the 'Do Not Disturb' sign so they wouldn't change our towels and sheets. Better for the environment. We went to the shoppette when it opened at 9 to get snacks and a piece of tape (for my headphones). Then I had to run back to the room while my friends met Rosie and Estella in the lobby. I also hit the ATM for 15000 yen. When I finished, the six of us walked to the subway, took it to Hibiya, and got another line to Nippori. We went into the bank on the corner so E. and R could change their $ for Y, but that bank wouldn't take $.
We continued our walk into Fabric Town. We stopped at one place to look at kimonos and to secure a map for our new friends. Our next stop was our favorite place from last year. Judy and I went around back first. I forgot that the others didn't know about the bargains around back. So Judy went to get them. We bought packets of fabric ranging from a quarter meter to 2 meters. We each noticed different fabrics though as I was to find out later. I spent most of my money right there. I tried to select packets in coordinated sets in case I had to sell some as kits for a quilt class. Then we went next door to see their 5 floors of fabrics. But they didn't not have the same discount. They had a nice selection of American fabrics at what amounted to $12/ meter. I tried to take pics, but discovered that my freshly changed batteries hadn't enough power.
We then walked past a small Japanese grocery store. Mary and I found the natto display. Here at E-Mart your natto choices are buy or not. But there must have been 6 or 8 choices depending on the size of the soybean. I bought a 3-pack that cost roughly $1. Then we went to the big intersection and found a place to eat.
I tried to order something with veggies and w/o noodles, but under a layer of seaweed, it was full of noodles. I was hungry and ate them anyway. Then I ate one of the natto packs and a small Babybel cheese (from the shoppette). Then we walked East to find a kimono shop listed on our map. Finally we stopped a woman passing by and she asked around for us and helped us find it. Turned out to be a place where kimonos are custom-made. We were hoping to buy used ones. Anyway, we then went to the nearest train station to buy tickets back to the hotel. I tried to figure out for myself how to know which price ticket to get, but couldn't find our destination on the Japanese map display. So we guessed at the fare. We took that train to the Imperial gardens, and then walked to the subway to take a train to Hiroo. We slowly and tiredly walked back to the hotel from there. It was about 3pm I think. Mary and I showed each other our fabrics in our room, and that is when I realized that we'd noticed different fabrics, and missed different fabrics. Then we checked out the gift shop (which opens late and closes early). We did not buy anything even though they had obi's. Ours from the quilt show were better. Then we checked out the Nx (like the Px here). It also closes early so we just made it. We didn't buy there either. The deli was across from that, so we peeked at their menu. It was just ok. We went back upstairs to our rooms. Judy showed us her fabric and then we all went to Sue's room to see her purchases. She got some nice Japanese panels to sell on her website (Passion4Quilting.com). Then the two of them came to our room to see what fabrics we bought. Show and tell was over, so we went downstairs to see the menu at Wellingtons. Onion soup was the healthiest thing on their menu. We ended up eating at the Deli. I got the 8oz Greek salad. It was not enough, so I ordered a pickle, after seeing the large jar of enormous pickles on the counter. But the man took a small one from a container under the counter. I was a little disappointed, so he got out another container, and gave me the biggest one out of that. It was large like the ones on display.
Judy and Sue went to their rooms while Mary and I marked our fabric packets with our initials. Then we went to the pool. Since I hadn't thought to bring a suit, I was going to sit nearby and write down the events of the day. But then I learned that there was a sauna in the ladies dressing room. So I borrowed a towel from the pool man and went into the sauna. Half way through my 15 minutes, another lady joined me in there. She told me about her day and what she saw on the tour her daughter-in-law had arranged. I told her about Nippori and she decided to change her plans for tomorrow so she could go. My time was up so I got out, as two other women walked into the dressing room. They were planning a trip to Nippori tomorrow and had been to a different quilt show earlier today. They explained where it was and drew a map on my blogbook. It is in Shibuya, at the end of the #6 bus line. After taking a shower, I ran up to the fitness center to take a quick peek. All those machines made it look like a room of torture. It was bedtime so I proceeded to our room and Mary arrived soon after. We went to bed.