And, we're off. Time to say goodbye to China for a while and head on over to Japan. Here's a lovely sunset on our crossing. Speaking of crossing - this was two "at sea" days and the sunset here does not really represent our time on the crossing. For the most part it was gray, rainy and pretty big seas, leading to less than perfect sleeping weather and some rather drunken looking walking around the boat. But it sure was fun watching the water in the pool sloshing all over the deck. It has been emptied in the meantime...
Arrival in Kobe port was quite pleasant! We tied up to the dock around 8am and were greeted by locals waving flags. Soon to be joined by what appeared to be a high school band playing for our enjoyment. Here's a little video clip to share that experience!
Off we went to see some sights in Osaka - where dogs on leashes must sit down to pee.
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| Our first stop - Shittennoji Temple. Like most religious institutions, there's a wonderful water purification ritual. |
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| Linda has been properly purified and can now go and pray. |
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| There's a lot of steps in this temple! |
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| The turtle on the bottom right is ready for that next step - and continued to be so for the whole time we hung around watching him. |
Next stop was Osaka Castle - built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in the late 1500's and destroyed and rebuilt several times between wars and natural disasters.
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| According to our guide, the face masks are worn by people who are sensitive to the tree pollen. |
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| A nice panorama of Osaka from the top of the Castle |
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| Evening market in Kobe |
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| When in Kobe... |
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| Our dinner being artfully prepared. It was really delicious! |
Until next time!
Ruth & Greg
And, we're off. Time to say goodbye to China for a while and head on over to Japan. Here's a lovely sunset on our crossing. Speaking of crossing - this was two "at sea" days and the sunset here does not really represent our time on the crossing. For the most part it was gray, rainy and pretty big seas, leading to less than perfect sleeping weather and some rather drunken looking walking around the boat. But it sure was fun watching the water in the pool sloshing all over the deck. It has been emptied in the meantime...
Greg has failed to mention he and Ruth have played games on board the ship to earn points for some really tacky mementos! There are some quite competitive folks on the ship so it's an ongoing challenge!
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