Asia/Australia part 2
Konichiwa Tomodachi!
After 9 days at sea (ok we had a minor stop in Siberia – brrrrrrr) we finally hit land in Sendai, Japan. Yea! However, there is no internet service in any ports or along the territorial waters so you will not get this until we clear Japan. The cool thing was we were greeted with live music and dancing women. It was really pretty and they were happy to see us. Sendai city was a trek by bus and train and we lucked out by finding the fish market right away! Everyone’s dream vacation right. No shopping for me. However, this market was fabulous! It was so clean and all the sellers were yelling out what they had to sell. There were endless stalls of every fish - eel, roe, squid, and octopus just to name a few of my favorites, as well as fresh veggies and fruit. We bought some green beans, grapes and figs! Around the corner we found a great little café and had noodle soup (like top ramen but way better) and of course Mark had squid! Yum.
Our next port Yokohama was fabulous! We were so surprised to see such a beautiful waterfront. We had booked a tour for that day as we needed to visit Tokyo but we really felt pulled to see more of Yokohama. It looks like San Diego. But our tour was great and our guide informative – taking us to old town Tokyo, the Kannon Temple and shops (yes boys we bought you some presents!); then to a beautiful hotel in downtown Tokyo for lunch and lastly, the Emperor’s Imperial Palace. On our tour we learned how Tokyo got its name. The original capital of Japan was Kyoto. But in 1860 something, a new emperor wanted to change the capital so the new city was called To (pronounced T OH) meaning – east. The cities name then became To- Kyoto eventually shortened to Tokyo. There are many parks with black pine trees that are sculpted individually like giant bonsai trees. The city streets are lined with Ginko trees which are eco-friendly making everyone feel smart. After visiting the very first Starbucks in Japan, located in the Ginza district (famous shopping), we were a little too hyped. At 6:30 we returned to the ship but decided to visit the port area of Yokohama and a very appealing October beer fest! Our pictures will show what a great time that was and how beautiful the area is. There is a small amusement park which includes a huge Ferris wheel that changes colors and patterns, lighting up the whole port. It’s magnificent!
After a short stop in Shimizu we ended our Japan adventure in Kobe, famous for its beef. The reason it’s so expensive – and this is right from the horse’s mouth (LOL) – is because these cattle are raised in the verdant mountains, drink beer, eat pricey grains and get a massage! Who knew! So we took a tour into Kyoto (about 1 1/2 hours by bus) to visit the Shogun Palace, the Kinkaku (Golden Palace), the Heian Shinto Shrine and Nijo Castle, where the floors squeak to warn of intruders. Interesting fact about the Shogun – he didn’t live in his palace much in his lifetime – but had more power than the emperor. Whenever visiting warriors arrived to see the Shogun, they would be asked to wear a long kimono over their clothes to hinder their agility and ability to attack the Shogun. Kyoto was beautiful and we were able to see a true Japanese wedding at the Shinto shrine but not allowed to take pictures.
There are plenty of pictures of Japan though and we hope you enjoy them. We’re starting to feel at home on the ship and have made some great friends. The bartenders in the Crows Nest are a blast and we find ourselves there often. Robin and I are surrogate moms to 2 of the performers, Jennifer and Allison. They love it when we sit in the front row and cheer the loudest at their performances!
As always me miss our loved ones and hope you are all doing well!
Sayonara,
Maryann
Ohio! (That means “good morning” in Japanese) and that is enough Japanese lesson for now.
Ditto the above except Mark and I were prepared to dress up for the Japanese Theme night and had a blast! Our costumes were the talk of the boat. The dinner was fabulous in the Pinnacle Grill and the entire ship was decked out in Japanese finery. O yea – we had such a great time going to the toilets in Japan! An experience in itself. There are so many buttons to push and of course there is no language to describe these buttons. But the funniest one was the special button for fake toilet flushing. For every possible cleaning situation there was a button – including a dryer:}!
I received an email from Beezoo. She and Xena are best puppy friends but she misses us.
Love receiving emails from many of you. We have very intermittent internet service so it is hard for us to respond to every email but please know we are happy to hear from you and hope you are staying with us through this journey. We love you all and miss you.
XOXOXOXO
Robin
