They sell Costco pizza at the local supermarket once a month. I sometimes buy one, cut it up and freeze it. I decided to try a seafood pizza this time. I think I'll stick with cheese from now on. It's not that the seafood is bad - squid, shrimp, scallops and ? - but I think I like it better with pasta.
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| Walking along my favorite river one evening..... |
I went to Kobe and Himeji (to the west) this past weekend. I arrived in Kobe before my friend and was planning to get Mexican food for lunch. I wasn't sure where the restaurant was, so I decided to go to a Vietnamese place that was nearby. Even though it wasn't far, and I had directions and a map, I got lost. But after asking a couple of people I found it and it was worth the search!
Then off to Ikuta Shrine.
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| I have never seen such a skinny dog/lion guard. |
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| Kobe is a big sake producing area. These are offerings of sake. |
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| A 500 year old tree. |
We stopped for some coffee and very yummy cake at a French patisserie called Tooth Tooth.
The name was strange but the cakes were delicious. Kobe does seem to have a lot of international restaurants and shops.
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| There are a lot of wedding halls, the building on the left is one of many that we past. |
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| We stayed at that hotel that across the water that looks like a cruise ship. There was a Yosakoi Dance Festival on the dock in the foreground. |
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| Another wedding venue. |
How to explain Anpanman... He is probably the most famous character for children in Japan (and that's saying something!!). He's named after the bread called 'anpan' which is a slightly sweet roll with sweet bean paste inside. Evidently he can get replacement heads when necessary. He has friends, all named after and with heads shaped as different breads. Then there are enemies, the biggest of whom is Baikiinman (germ man) whose biggest weakness is soap. I just read all of this, and there are many other characters and if you are really interested just look up Anpanman on wikipedia. It's interesting/funny in it's own way.
Back to my trip. Dinner at an interesting place.
The seat backs were made from bed frames. It was called The Old Spaghetti Factory and it's a restaurant from Portland, OR but the flavors were pretty Japanesey.
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| Cities are always prettier at night. |
The best thing about the hotel was the night view which could be seen from the balcony, and the room. I've never been at a Japanese hotel that actually had a balcony with chairs!! It was great. A nice breeze and a light show from the ferris wheel. At first I thought it was just a color/pattern changing thing but it turns out when you face the ferris wheel you can see a sort of show. They turn off certain lights to make pictures go across the screen! Things like the cityscape, words, boat rudders, squirrels on a hampster wheel, all kinds of things. Very nice.
And a great breakfast buffet. As at most bigger hotels there were Chinese, Japanese and western food areas. I had mostly Chinese but I did go for a small pancake as well. It was delicious. And we were so full we didn't eat lunch until 3:30, even with all the walking we did! The restaurant view was great as well and one wall had a big mural of the beach in Santa Monica.
All in all if really felt like a nice get-away.
This is the daytime view.
Off to Himeji which was about an hour west. We were actually supposed to have a typhoon but it was very slow moving and veered northwest so we ended up with a beautiful sky/day. Although it was VERY hot. I was sweating bullets most of the day.
Himeji has what is probably the most beautiful and famous castle in Japan. It's a UNESCO site and is called the white heron castle. There is also a great garden next to it and we went there first - since there still was a possibility the weather would turn bad.
I love all the different styles of bamboo fences and gates.
There were lots of very low garden entrances. It was like being Alice in Wonderland.
There was a bamboo garden with some varieties I've never seen. This kind had an interesting trunk.
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| Some well deserved kakigori. It was sooooo hot!!! |
On to the castle.
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| Some very friendly guards. |
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| A wedding party. |
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| Isn't it beautiful? |
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| I think this is my best picture. |
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| There were 4 or 5 wells on the castle grounds. |
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| Nice use of old roof tiles. |
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| A big heavy door to close of the very steep stairs. |
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| A model of the wooden frame of the castle which is 6 stories high. |
It was so hot climbing all those steps, and just as hot going down. Luckily there really weren't too many people and so we could stop by the windows and soak up the remarkably cool breeze on each floor! I don't want to think about what it would be like on a crowded summer day!
These are samples of the roof ornaments. The oldest one (Meiji Era) has the most detail and the detail diminishes as the years go on.
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| This shows what skills were needed to build a castle. |
Exhausted, I caught the 4pm train, arrived home a little before 7 and immediately got into a bath to soak my legs which actually hurt more from sitting on the train than from all the walking!
