Motomachi & Yamashita Park

The rainy morning gave way to our first sunny and mild afternoon in Yokohama.  Once Connor woke up from his afternoon nap, we decided to take a loop around the southern side of Yokohama by foot, visiting the Motomachi shopping area, Yamashita Park and back home through Kannai with its government offices and western architecture dating back to the 1920s.

Motomachi (a very interesting history here) is a five block section of shops and stylish boutiques that becomes pedestrian-only on weekends.  It is located about a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment, just across the Nakamura River.  We stopped into a bakery that we heard a lot about and picked up a little snack, a thin sausage wrapped up in a fresh baguette which we tore in half and enjoyed as we walked along and browsed the shops.  The shops included a mix of nice local places, along with some western chains like GAP, Godiva & Tommy Hilfiger, interspersed with 100 yen stores (the rough equivalent of a dollar store):

After reaching the end of Motomachi, we happened upon the northwest part of Harbor View Park and climbed up a ton of steps to a very pretty area of leafy trees with birds chirping, and views of the downtown and to the harbor.  A pedestrian bridge took us over the highway, past the doll museum to the upper entrance of Yamashita Park.  We spiraled down past gardens and a fountain to the lower part of the park with the views of downtown, ships in the harbor and more gardens:

It was a gorgeous afternoon, and the excursion allowed us to see how walkable of a city Yokohama is.  It reminds me of Boston in this regard, and the setting around the harbor with interesting little neighborhoods just reinforces the idea.  The walk home took us through Kannai and past the ballpark where we scoped out an Indian restaurant for dinner.