I was up early (just before 7) – naturally Kaoru and Mio were already up, and Yoichi had already left for work.  After breakfast Mio took Arisa to school, while Kaoru and I organised things for our next trip – to Kobe.  We were fine with just the little suit case again, and in fact thought we must be missing things as it was so much emptier than when we went to Nasu.  The difference as I didn’t need my thick jacket, or waterproof boots packed in.

When Mio got back from dropping Arisa off, she took us to the station.  It was raining – just like our wedding day (a light sprinkle – not a lot, but enough to be annoying).  We caught the train to Shibuya and then went to get Kaoru’s Shinkansen ticket (I was covered already with my JR Pass).  The next train that we could catch (that went to Shin-Kobe, and not a super-super fast one as the JR Pass isn’t valid on them) was an 11.10 from Shinagawa (it was currently 10.00).  I suggested we may as well get it from Tokyo as going there would pass the time, and also increase our chances of getting seats next to each other if it was crowded (it starts from Tokyo, and Shinagawa is the second station).  So we went with that option.

After the 22 minute trip to Tokyo, we bought a bento box to eat on the train, and then went to stand in line.  They were all fairly short, but there were 8-10 people lined up for each door – and we were still 15 minutes before departure time.  By the time the train was cleaned and we boarded, the line was considerably longer, and not everybody could get a seat!  So our plan to get on here rather than Shinagawa paid off.  We’ll definitely book a reserved seat for our trip back to Tokyo.

I got a bit of work done on the trip, and we also investigated what to do in Kobe and Osaka.  We ate lunch, and enjoyed the scenery, as well as got a little bit of shut-eye.  The weather was clearing up, and it was quite warm in the train so I had taken all long sleeves off.  I’m sure it will still be cool in Kobe, but may as well enjoy it while we can!

We arrived in Kobe a bit after 2, and put the suitcase in a coin locker.  We then walked about 10 minutes to the Herb Garden ropeway and caught the cable car to the top.  There were amazing views of the city and the port on the way up, and once up the top.  Kobe is a very narrow town – there is not a lot of space between the mountains and the city.  The airport is on an island out in the harbour!  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see a plane land, but I understand it is a very beautiful airport to land at, with the lights of the city, and the mountain in the background.

After a walk around, and a drink, we caught the cable car back down to the halfway station, and we walked the rest of the of the way down.  It was a beautiful trail around the dam which provides Kobe its water supply, and past a number of water falls.  Unfortunately on the way down I must have passed my limit – I could feel a cold coming on.  Whilst I still had plenty of energy on the walk, my nose was running and throat was starting to get a bit sore.  Hope I can shake this.

It took us about an hour to get down to the bottom, but it was a beautiful hike and lovely scenery.  We got our suitcase and decided to catch a taxi rather than train to the hotel.  We checked in and went up to our room.  Wow!  King sized bed!  And decent sized bathroom!  When we checked in we were also given a coupon giving us access to the lounge – for “Premium rooms” (top two floors).  So we went down to check that out.  It’s open from 2pm to 6pm every day, so limited time.  It was tea / coffee / hot chocolate, and also an assortment of cakes on a tray!  We enjoyed them to keep us going.

Back in the room I decided to have a sleep and try to start shaking this cold.  After an hour or so it was time for dinner.  We were originally going to do a bay cruise but I hadn’t received any reply from my email to them.  And given I wasn’t 100%, we didn’t really want to spend the money it would cost.  So we walked around Kobe looking for somewhere to get some Kobe beef.  The town seemed quite small – we were surprised at how quickly we got to the station, based on the distance it looked on the map.  It looked like a very vibrant town and a fun one to go out in.  We eventually decided on a place that had a Kobe Beef Teppanyaki meal.

We went inside and it was the quietest teppanyaki restaurant I had ever been in!  This was the real thing though – not the Holleywood style you get around the world.  We had a number of delicious courses, which included Roast Kobe Beef in the entree, but most of the rest was cooked in front of us on the teppan.  Kaoru taught me to say “shashin o totemo ii desuka” (ask if I can take a photo of the chef).

I don’t normally do “meal” photos, but decided to make an exception:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we came back to the hotel, and I had a bath to try to sweat this cold out, and then went to bed.

Some photos from the day: