Shimizu Threepeat

Today, Sunday, we were in Shimizu for the third time in a year.  We were here twice last March.  As we sailed in, the top of Mt. Fuji was in the clouds.  As the morning progressed, the sky cleared.

It was interesting to see the different views that we had in our 3 sail-ins.  The photo on the left was from March 18, 2024, the upper right from March 31, 2024, and the lower right from today.  It looked like there was more snow on the mountain last year.  The weather today was so nice that, in the morning, we were able to sit out on our veranda in the sunshine and enjoy the view of the mountain.

We booked an excursion that was originally named "Tuna From Sea to Table".  When we got our tickets, we saw the the name was "Tuna Demolition Show"!  It would have been better if the excursion had been demolished.  It started with a bus ride to a temple - the Fujisan Hohgo Sengen Taisha Shrine.  As we were riding on the bus, I had the startling realization that we had visited the same shrine last year.  I think that in a past blog entry I may have said, somewhat disrespectfully, that if you've seen one shrine you've seen them all.  Now we've seen this shrine and we've seen it again.  I tried to recreate some photos from the last time such as this one at the entrance, today's is on the  bottom.

The nice thing about visiting again is that I could put the phone away and just enjoy walking around the grounds.  The other nice thing is that Linda was much more mobile this time  - no cane.  She was able to see things she missed last time.  We did get a few new photos.

When we were here last March, the cherry trees were just starting to bloom.  Not this year.

An interesting view from the bus, was some fields of green tea plants.

After returning to the port area, we were "treated" to the tuna demolition show.  The show took place on the second floor of a shopping mall.  Pardon my French, but it was crap.  The room was packed with people from 3 tour buses.  People standing in front blocked the view of everyone sitting behind.  After the "show" we did have a variety of fair sushi.  Believe me, it was not omakase!

After the 10 minute show, an hour and forty-five minutes of time remained for us to enjoy the shopping.  We opted to leave immediately and take the 10 minute walk back to the ship.  

Our guide was, shall we say, not very good.  On the plus side, she spoke very good English.  On the down side, she barely spoke - little commentary on the bus and less commentary at the shrine.  At least she gave us the option to walk back to the ship.  We heard that one of the other guides told his people that they had to take the bus back.  Oh well, at least the weather was decent.

Tomorrow, we have a day at sea before returning to Kagoshima, again for the third time.  Our plan is to return to the restaurant that we visited last year for omakase.  Stay tuned.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry