The Conrad Tokyo

As we get ready to leave the Conrad Tokyo, we're thinking about what a great stay this has been.

The Conrad Tokyo is a wonderful hotel. We're so pleased that our accumulated Hilton points made this a "free" stay, including an upgrade to a gorgeous harborview room.

The hotel staff couldn't have been nicer. We enjoyed our breakfast in the lounge with a chef cooking our omelettes to order, evening wine and appetizers, and friendly employees everywhere.

This morning after breakfast we wandered over to the Tsukiji fish market, a leisurely 15-minute walk. The tuna auction was long over and we'd read last night that tourists were currently not allowed in, due to the congestion they create. We saw the same sign posted this morning when we strolled in, so we're just as happy we didn't rise before 5:00 a.m. to test it out. This year-old article appears to confirm that and we're guessing the ban highlighted in the article is again in place.

We wandered around the warren of little shops for an hour. Kathy found a very nice serving plate at a reasonable price (under $30) so that's now sitting in one of our carry-ons.

We ate another fine lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the adjacent mall. A delicious lunch for two set us back 1200 Yen or about $14. From our very brief experience, we sense that anybody who's willing to eat in casual restaurants and ready to point at menu items (and maybe to take a chance) can eat quite economically.

We're now sitting in the Executive Lounge with large cups of green tea. The employees have checked us out of our room and transferred our roll-aboards downstairs for us. Next on our schedule: a 4:15 p.m. ride on our limousine bus out to Narita, a transfer to the Hilton bus, and another ride to the Narita Airport Hilton for a pleasantly cheap overnight stay before flying home early tomorrow evening.