Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, was our second day in Kobe. The weather was not good and, since we will be returning for another 2 days in a couple of weeks, we just stayed on the ship. We did manage to take a walk on deck and to enjoy the green cupcakes.
Monday we were in Shimizu, the gateway to Mount Fuji. To put it simply, we were blessed with clear weather all day and terrific views of the mountain. It started with the sail in to Shimizu. Our friends Richard and Sylvain are in one of the photos.
We took a Mt. Fuji Highlights excursion. Our first stop was Miho-no-Matsubara where there is a pine forest and a beach with views of the mountain.
On yeah, we also got to see some crooked trees!
The next stop was the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. There we got more views of Mt. Fuji and also our first good encounter with a blooming cherry tree!
On our way back to the ship we had one more stop for views. Okay, dear family, you can say "Mitre Peak" now.
Tuesday we were docked in Yokohama, the port for Tokyo. In the morning, we took a walk through the mall attached to the cruise terminal and then a bit around the port area. It was about 10:30 when we entered the mall and we saw a line of people at the escalator waiting for the upper floor of the mall to open which it did at at 11:00. We didn't know why, but I'll reveal that later.
When we returned to the mall at almost 11:00, the line was out of the door.
We watched as the escalator was opened and the line of people proceeded in a very orderly manner to one store. We waited for the line to clear and then went up to see what the attraction was. It was a sweet shop that sold a caramel confection that was apparently much in demand.
It turned out that the second floor was filled with shops selling various sweets.
In the afternoon we took a panoramic tour of Tokyo. The bus ride took us to the Tokyo Tower.
At the tower, we went up to the 150 meter level.
After the tower, we were given a bus tour of Tokyo including the Ginza.
While it was not the visit to Tokyo that we had originally envisioned, it did give us a taste of the city. When we return next February we'll have more time here.
When we returned to the port, we went up to the popular shop and, of course, they were sold out of the good stuff. We asked the woman working there and she told us that they sell out by 1:00pm.
Today, Wednesday, is the turnover day and the start of our second cruise. We have moved up which is good but we did have to leave one piece of art work behind in the former suite.
I will let you guess about the details of this piece and will reveal the answer in my next blog entry.
When we got settled into our new accommodation, we walked over to the mall at about noon to try to get the confection. They were already sold out of boxes with only that treat but we were able to buy a combination box that included it. We haven't tasted it yet. but we'll let you know how it is.
Peace and blessings,
Linda and Larry
I was hoping for more pictures of Mt. Fuji...
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