JVlog #18: Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse & Osanbashi Pier

Good Day Everyone,

A few days ago hubby and I made the most of a national holiday and headed out for a relaxing day by the waterfront at Yokohama Bay. Our first stop was the Red Brick Warehouse for some breakfast. 

Red Brick Warehouse - the larger one

The Red Brick Warehouse is a collection of two warehouses, over 100 years old, that are iconic landmarks of Yokohama. In the olden days Yokohama was a big port city and the Red Brick Warehouses were the customs buildings. Nowadays they are full of retail stores, bars, restaurants and a banquet hall. The larger Red Brick Warehouse has a two storey balcony which is west facing, making it a great place to relax with a drink and watch the sunset :o).

West facing balconies for a sunset view

There is a large outdoor space in between the two buildings that is used for festivals and events. It's where the New Year's Eve fireworks were, if you ever saw my very first vlog ;o). On this particular day there was a German Beer Garden Festival, as well as fun things for children to do. There are often bicycle rickshaws along the main road by the Red Brick Warehouse where you can pay to be driven around the surrounding area. It's a good way of giving your feet a rest whilst still taking in the sights. Many of the rickshaw owners don't speak much English but they have a map with the different routes and prices.

Bicycle Rickshaw

For breakfast we headed to Bills, an insanely popular Australian restaurant by the Chef Bill Granger. Such is it's popularity that it is common to have queues that are 2-3hrs long...I'm not kidding! We arrived for when it opened and still had to queue for 45mins! That's pretty good going when it comes to queuing at Bills.

Green Smoothie for me & Bill's Beets for hubby

My breakfast of scrambled eggs, avocado, halloumi and bread

Hubby's breakfast of sweetcorn & bell pepper fritters with halloumi and avocado salsa

The food is fantastic and very much the kind of food hubby and I enjoy with fresh fruit juices and smoothies, lots of light, healthy, nutritious and tasty food. You can see more in the video below.

After fueling our stomachs, we walked along the water front promenade to Osanbashi Pier as a cruise ship was coming in. Being the engineering geek that he is, my hubby loves watching the cruise ships come in to dock ;o).   

Cruise ship coming into Osanbashi Pier

The views from the roof top garden of Osanbashi Pier are pretty impressive. You can see all of Minato Mirai 21 including iconic buildings such as Landmark Tower, Queens Towers A, B & C and Cosmo World Ferris Wheel, as well as the Red Brick Warehouse, Bay Bridge and Yokohama Marine Tower. You can walk along the water front promenade all the way to Yamashita Park.

Minato Mirai 21 skyline

Bay Bridge

Yokohama Marine Tower & Yamashita Park

On this particular day we spotted Mount Fuji in the distance. We had no idea that we could see Mount Fuji from Osanbashi Pier. As you'll see from the above video, I couldn't pick it up all that well on my vlogging camera, but at least you now know where to look, if you're ever at Osanbashi Pier :o).

Rooftop garden of OsanBashi Pier with cruise ships on either side

Osanbashi Pier & Bay Bridge in the background

The pier building itself has a very unique structure with an underlying nautical theme. Its different decks and layers are designed using floor boards and grass to resemble rolling waves. There are often events taking place at the pier and on this particular day there were several quirky food vans.

Quirky food van

Walking around the pier is free and a great way to relax in the sun. Hubby and I got an ice cream and sat in some chairs, soaking in the sun whilst being kept cool by the gentle bay breeze.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour around some of Yokohama's tourist attractions :o).

Love Sheen xxx