Hotel Capsule Inn Kobe

... listata maailman hienoimpien junareittien listalle...

Takaisin Osakassa oltiin viimein kello 20.30 aikoihin ja käytiin vielä nopeasti pyörähtämässä Osakan-aseman lähellä olevissa valtavissa kaupoissa, etsimässä hiukan kaikenlaista tavaraa jatkoa varten. Nyt on pakko alkaa latautua jo tulevaan...

Jaahas ja tästä alkaa nyt todellinen humuviikonloppu! Tiedossa on kolme päivää silkkaa juhlaa, joten päivityksissä saattaa esiintyä pieniä viivästyksiä... :-)

... Tunti ainakin meni ihan vaan pyöriessä ja ihastellessa tunnelmia.Harmi vaan, että ehdittiin syödä nopeasti juuri ennen lähtöä, koska täällä olisi ollut jos jonkinmoista ruokakojua ja kunnon Japanilaisia markkinaherkkuja tarjolla.

Käveltiin lopulta samaa reittiä takaisin Shin-Koben asemalle ja nyt alkoi jo jalat pyytämään armoa! Tälle päivälle alkoi kävelyt nyt todellakin olla tässä. Ei kun takaisin hotellille ja huomenna sitten lisää löylyä...

... came through to check for tickets. Luckily, he was a nice guy and graciously let us off at the next station, rather than throwing us off from the caboose (maybe that was because bullet trains don't exactly have cabooses). Shortly thereafter, we sheepishly boarded the right train to Himeji, and were soon napping in our seats once more. One short hour later, we arrived in drizzly Himeji, and proceeded to storm the castle. Ok, so we didn't really storm the castle. Rather ...

... as it did not have an English equivalent as many bars will display... such as 3 Japanese characters and then underneath in English, "Frank's Bar". So, we followed his directions and were playing match the characters game... This is not too easy as many buildings through these narrow side streets have signs all the way up the side showing the 8 bars at each of the buildings 8 floors. Somehow, we find it and match up pine tree, window ...

... we went to a traditional tempura lunch in one of the high-rise hotels in Kyoto that is adjacent to the train station. After lunch we shopped in the huge attached mall for about an hour then took the train back to Kobe. Debi and I went to the meeting room and met with our Japanese hosts and the room looks great. They printed the binders and everything is really cool. Our gifts for our attendees are happi coats, the short Japanese jackets that men wear. I'll post photos once I have them ...

... the spines on magazines are on the right so they read the magazine in the opposite way to us, although still read pages left to right. Also every shop has its own theme song sort of thing, which are about 30 seconds long and repeat constantly - amusing at first but then get a tad irritating (I will get a sample!). There are also vending machines everywhere, and cars turn off their lights at traffic lights at night. Also whenever you buy something in a shop, the cashiers ...

... away a couple of them said, "Play the 'monkey song' ("Monkey and the Engineer"). I was really suprised that they remembered it and was even a little touched, so I struck up the first chord and away we went. They somehow even remembered the lyrics to the chorus...After that I played "Stand By Me", "Country Roads" (by request), and Kathy even jogged my memory by having me play one of my old comedy nuggets, "My Dog Pete"; although ...

... 33 spaces these columns create. Personally I would think the 1001 statues of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy are a lot more exciting than 33 spaces and I would have named the temple after them... the sen ichi temple. After this we went to the Imperial Palace. This is one place in Japan were foreigners get preference over Japanese citizens and are allowed inside the palace gardens. Japanese people have to apply for permission months in advance and the tour is only ...

... this curve in the track and Liz goes flying right into the lap of this shocked Japanese lady! I immediately start cracking up (hey, I could tell she was alright!) and she is just dead embarrassed! I give her a wink and tell her it could happen to anybody...I'm so nice!! LOL We end up eating at the Elephant Café, which is reasonably priced, has a great dark atmosphere and gives you a wide selection of dishes ranging from authentic Indian to Chinese, Thai or ...