DAY 79 - Kyoto  (Kobe), Japan

March 16, 2024

After hearing so much about the city of Kyoto, we decided at the last minute to get a hotel room and stay overnight.  Kyoto was the capital of Japan before Tokyo for about 1000 years and is still considered the cultural center of Japan.  After staying at big high-rise hotels when leaving the ship, we were baffled as we drove into a 4 story low rise building.  But after a little while we suddenly realized that we had found an amazingly quiet, beautiful and peaceful retreat. Off of our balcony at the back of the hotel was a Japanese garden - begun 800 years ago by some royal family member with ponds and paths and now with a pagoda and small tea house.  We arrived just ahead of the Cherry Blossoms - but it was still so beautiful and peaceful to enjoy.






We took a short stroll to a hilltop shrine and saw some beautiful kimonos in windows and on the girls




The hotel offered a glimpse into the Geisha culture with a young Geisha in training doing two traditional dances for us in the lobby.




We found we had our own kimonos in the room - so we relaxed before dinner and enjoyed the garden from our balcony at sunset.



Dinner was amazing...sushi to start with Japanese beef to share.
.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  DAY 37  -  Manila, Philippines February 3, 2024 With all of the history in this big city, we were surprised that we were only spending a half day here.  But with a lot ahead on the water for this part of the cruise itinerary, I guess something had to give. We had four stops in the city...first at the old cathedral, second at the Fort used by all of the occupying countries (from the Spanish in the 1500's to the Americans in the late 1800's with the Japanese and English in between...followed by the Americans again after WWII).....at the famous Hotel Manilla (where Gen MacArthur had his headquarters) and at a large park with lots of street vendors. This is the entrance to the dungeon....which was quite freaky and gruesome to visit..... We have been told to be really careful about street food vendors....but some of these looked really good and smelled great! All of the kids were wearing these "Duckies" clipped in their hair (it was a Saturday and schools had lots of ex...
Read more
Image
  DAY 64 - Ishigaki, Japan March 1, 2024 For some reason, in all of the planning and calendaring for the trip, John completely missed this day.  We had no plans or trips or even options scheduled. Fortunately for us, the weather turned and it was cloudy and cold, and it rained all day. When we looked outside, there were no mountains or cities, just a harbor and small town with nothing standing out.  The daily ship newspaper said that the town was best known for its beaches and hiking. So happily we stayed inside, took long naps, read the papers and the news, did laundry and really laid low all day long! 
Read more
Image
DAY 77 - Okinawa, Japan March 14, 2024  The WWII battle for Okinawa is well known as one of the most crucial battles and one with the highest casualties of the Pacific War.  It was so important due to its proximity to the island of Japan. Allied bombers would be able to attack the major cities in Japan if the airfield on the island was available to them to take off and land.   We had two stops during our excursion today on the island.  The first was a beautiful Japanese garden with ponds, bridges and shrines.  It was a public park available to everyone to relax and enjoy a quiet peaceful day. Our second stop was at the palace.  The main building was unfortunately destroyed by fire a few years ago and is being reconstructed.  It was not talked about much during the tour, but this had to be a major stronghold and fortress during the war due to its location, height and solid construction.  It is called a palace, but seemed like a massive fort wi...
Read more