The alarm was set for 6.30 to make sure we didn’t miss our trains.\u00a0 But I didn’t sleep as well, and we were both awake at 6, so we decided to leave early and use any extra time for breakfast.\u00a0 We got dressed and left the house, and walked to Sakura Shinmachi station in time for a 6.52 train.<\/p>\n
We got to Shinagawa and were hoping to go to the stand up sushi restaurant that I’ve been to before, but they were closed.\u00a0 How terrible!\u00a0 So we ended up at a stand up don restaurant, where I had a tuna don, and Kaoru had a meat one.\u00a0 There was lots of rice on it though, and Kaoru couldn’t eat much at all!\u00a0 I got about half way through my rice (but ate all the tuna of course!).\u00a0 Then it was on to the 8.05 Shinkansen.<\/p>\n
Checking a few things on my computer back home, I noticed the NAS was down and I couldn’t get it going again.\u00a0 I had to send a message to Sian and she had to go round to our house.\u00a0 I called her (as voice calls on WhatsApp weren’t good enough for me to hear on a noisy train – not that the phone was much better but at least there wasn’t the 10 second delay!) and she managed to get power going (seems my UPS may have been the problem but won’t know for sure until I get home).\u00a0 Thank god!<\/p>\n
I got a few more work things done on the train, as well as a bit of a sleep (and maybe a beer or two :)), before arriving at Himeji at 11.46.\u00a0 James (Kaoru’s friend from the UK, who came to our wedding in Japan) is working nearby for 12 months so that was our driver for Himeji on this trip.\u00a0 He was running late to meet us though, so we dropped our suit case at the hotel and looked around the tourist information centre while we waited.<\/p>\n
Once he arrived we walked to Himeji-jo (Himeji castle) and we booked on the “cruise” – basically a gondola ride around the moat.\u00a0 We booked for about an hours time, so we went and had some lunch, and then came back for our ride.\u00a0 We were given a straw hat to wear which was fun, and a life vest, which I think would drag you to the bottom with the weight of the auto-inflation system in it!<\/p>\n
We spent a couple of hours walking around the castle.\u00a0 It was huge, and has featured in a number of movies including You Only Live Twice.\u00a0 They had an app, which we downloaded, which had “Augmented Reality”.\u00a0 There were areas where we could hold the phone and it would show some photos or a video explaining a bit of history.\u00a0 After the castle we went to the garden next door (it was only an extra 40 yen on the ticket price) which was very photogenic.\u00a0 We then made our way back to the hotel.\u00a0 An old man came up to us and started talking to us in English.\u00a0 He wasn’t saying much but obviously wanted to practice or show off that he could do it, so we humoured him for a while.\u00a0 We then continued on our way, where another person stopped us to have a chat!\u00a0 It was a really friendly town.<\/p>\n
At the hotel we checked in to our room.\u00a0 The bed was massive!\u00a0 I think it was 2 double beds pushed together!\u00a0 I don’t know where they got a fitted sheet big enough to fit, let alone the doona.\u00a0 It was after 6 and we were starting to get hungry so we went back outside and looked for somewhere to go.\u00a0 Kaoru asked James if he had done Shabu Shabu before, which he hadn’t, so the decision was made.\u00a0 There was a restaurant just across from the hotel, which was all you can eat for 100 minutes, for about $30\/head, which included all you can drink (soft drink) and ice cream bar.\u00a0 So we made the most of that and were quite full by the time we were kicked out.<\/p>\n
We went to the convenience store to buy a couple of drinks and went back to our room to consume them, and chat for a bit longer.\u00a0 We then walked James to the station to ensure he didn’t miss the last train (11.17).\u00a0 Back at the hotel we went to the 4th floor to enjoy the bath.\u00a0 It wasn’t an onsen so the water didn’t feel as nice, but it was certainly hot!\u00a0 It had been a long day and the time to unwind before calling it a night was great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The alarm was set for 6.30 to make sure we didn’t miss our trains.\u00a0 But I didn’t sleep as well, and we were both awake at 6, so we decided to leave early and use any extra time for breakfast.\u00a0 We got dressed and left the house, and walked to Sakura Shinmachi station in time … Continue reading