Day trip 20240210 Utsunomiya/Tobu Zoo

Day 2 of my 3-day day trip took me to Utsunomiya for a gyoza tour again during the day and to the Tobu Zoo for the light show. 

My day started off bright and early, taking the shinkansen from the Tokyo Station to get to the gyoza shop before it opens in hopes to get in at first seating so I won't have to stand in line. Turns out I got there so early, I was the first to get in. The shop I wanted to go to was a bit further down the station. It was good exercise. 

This shop makes cute round gyoza. The gyoza wrap is a little thicker, but was bouncy like mochi. The filling is made of ground meat and chopped veggies with a hint of ginger and garlic. I had the pan-fried gyoza and soup gyoza. Yes, the soup gyoza is in unflavored soup (plain hot water to you disparaging types 😜). They recommend to eat the pan-fried gyoza with mayo and ground chili pepper. It was good, but I like using soy sauce and spicy sesame oil mix better. I seasoned the soup gyoza with soy sauce and spicy sesame oil, too. I liked this gyoza much better than the other ones the last time I came to Utsunomiya. Well worth the trip. 

Google map told me that another gyoza shop I wanted to visit was just a few blocks down, so I headed for that shop next. There was a line forming outside, but it turns out that they were just opening, so I didn't have that long to wait since most of the people who were waiting got seated. I tried the deep fried gyoza. The spice mix they make in-house was so good! It had just the right kick and enhanced the taste of the deep-fried gyoza. 

I was so full by the time I finished the gyoza. The walk back to the station was welcomed. I passed through Gyoza Street and saw that they put up a really cool gyoza sign.

Like last time, I had the custard pudding stacked with soft serve ice cream for dessert. It was so good. 

I caught the train that was going to take me to my next destination, the Tobu Zoo. A lot of places offer light shows during the winter to attract more visitors. Plus it gets dark out sooner. Tobu zoo is famous for the white tigers. There are also rides like roller coasters, a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and such. It looks like they collaborated with anime characters and there was a concert by these anime characters shown on the big screen. There were young ladies singing, dancing, swooning, and having a grand time. 

    

The zoo was much bigger than the flower park. I started off visiting the zoo part first and figured by the time I started heading back to the entrance it was going to get dark and the lights would come on. There were quite a few light tunnels to walk through, and a section with lit up animals. Pink and white lights were strung up the trees along the pond to make them look like cherry trees in bloom. My timing wasn't bad, since it was pretty much closing time by the time I made it back to the entrance while enjoying all the lights on display. 

I didn't book an express train back and took a regular train. Although the train took me back to where I wanted to be without having to change trains, it was a long and cramped train ride. Never again. I'm taking the express as much as I can even if I have to change trains at major stations.