We arrived at the Port of Kobe at noon on Friday. This is the closest port to both Osaka and Kyoto. As our ship was easing up to the dock, a small but talented and enthusiastic student band started to play as a way of welcome. Tim was out on deck watching and was thrilled to hear the band, particularly when they played a great arrangement of Obla De, Obla Da by the Beatles. Sure beats the heck of some scantily clad young women dancing to a steel band. When we booked this cruise we were particularly excited about visiting Kyoto but, unfortunately, none of the cruises excursions met our desires. The travel advisors on board the ship advised us that in the terminal at the port there would be travel consultants who would be better equiped to help us. So after lunch on Friday we left the ship to talk to the people in the terminal. They helped us plan an excursion of our own for Saturday.
Saturday morning we took the high speed bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto. It is 44 miles between to two cities and we covered it in 27 minutes. The engine of the train is very sleek in design and the ride is fast, smooth and quiet. We had two stops planned in Kyoto, the first being Nishiki Market. The market is 5 blocks long and the walkway between the stalls is about the width of a one lane street. There are well over 100 stalls, all pretty much related to food. There were stalls selling food products, meat, seafood, produce and baked goods, as well as restaurants selling Japanese food. There are also stalls offering cookware as well as place settings, glassware, etc. The restaurants were of particular interest to us as most offered take away type food made to eat while you walked about. Amazingly, it is considered to be extremely rude to walk about the market as you are eating. Makes no sense at all. The clever restraunteurs solved this problem by creating areas in there stalls where the diners could stand at small tables and eat. There were sit down restaurants as well but they were very small. Both types of eating establishments were very crowded. The one we found probably sat 30 people at most. We enjoyed a small meal with Lynda having a Japanese omlette and Tim pork filled dumplings. The omlette is different then what have at home. The green onions in her omlette (the only option) were mixed into the eggs and then the omlette was rolled up instead of folded over. The omlette was served cut up into 4 sections, along with a small cruet of soy sauce. Chop sticks were the only utensils. Lynda thought her omlette to be much lighter then the typical american omlette. Tim's dumplings were made with a very thin rice pastry. Both were delicious. Our planned second stop was an old section of Kyoto with lots of shops and restaurants on very narrow pedestrian only streets. This was to be a look at what Kyoto looked like long ago. Unfortunately it was cold and windy with occasional light snow which we were not prepared for so we cut short our trip. Still, we rode on a bullet train and visited the type of market that we love to visit on our many trips around the world. It is the kind of market we are only now seeing more of in the states. Neither the bullet train or market were included in any of the ships excursions.
Sunday morning we woke up in Kochi, Japan. When we originally signed up for shore excursions we picked an excursion that visited a Buddist temple and a botanical garden. We knew there was a lot of walking but thought Lynda would be up to it when we finally arrive in Japan. Unfortunately she wasn't so we decided that Tim would go by himself and take lots of pictures for Lynda. Today was the day for that excursion. After the lousy weather in Kyoto, the weather today was lovely, sunny with temperatures in the mid 50's. This particular Buddist temple was founded in 724. The temple grounds were set in the side of a small mountain. The grounds around the buildings were lovely in a zen sort of way. The temple itself was spectacular in an over the top way. All in all, a typical Buddist temple. The Makino Botanical Gardens were another story. The gardens would have been spectacular in another month but there were still the early flowers of spring in bloom. The thing Tim noticed immediately was the the daffodils, primulas, and frittalarias had much smaller blossoms then the variaties we have at home. What was spectacular was the conservatory. The orchids were in full bloom and were stunning. There were other orchid-like flowers equally as beautiful. The conservatory made the visit worthwhile. When Lynda saw the pictures Tim had taken she was disappointed that she was unable to go but understood she could not physically have handled all the walking. Sadly, that is our new normal right now.
Tomorrow will be a very somber day as we visit Hiroshima. We will report back in a couple of days.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment