Japan Recap 2! (Day 3-6)

Japan Day 3 & 4 : Hiroshima and Miyajima

·         Explored the city, visited a castle, and went to Karaoke.

·         Peace Memorial Park and Museum. The site of the atomic bomb has a very emotional museum depicting the damage that the bomb caused to the people and community. A flame burns as a monument that will stand until all nuclear weapons are eliminated from the world.

·         Miyajima Island. This is home to the famous floating tori gate. We visited a large shrine and thanks to our tour guide we were able to follow some of the traditional rituals. And I cannot forget to mention the deer which are very friendly and can be pet like tamed animals although living freely on the island.

Check out my selfie with the deer, the floating tori gate can be seen in the background!

 

 

Day 5: Kyoto

·         Took the bullet train to Kyoto to visit the bamboo forest.  It went as far as we could see into the distance and the sky. It was beautiful.

·         After being out in the cold, we decided to visit another hot spring. They are very relaxing.

 

Day 6: Kobe

·         Our last day in Japan we spent in the port city of Kobe. We decided to take the city loop, which is basically a hop on and off bus with 17 stops around the city. One of the highlights of this trip was the tram that took us to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. 

 
*I wish I could send more pictures but the email connection on the ship is not working very well. Hopefully more to come soon!

Japan Recap! (Day 1 & 2)

Day 1: Yokohama & Toyko

·         Explored the port city of Yokohama, the 2^nd largest city in Japan, in the morning. This was the first time I had ever been immersed in a country that spoke another language!

·         Group drum lesson on traditional taiko drums

·         Visited our first temple which was a large red building with intricate details decorating the sides. There was a market lining the streets leading to the temple. Here we ate a traditional "cookie", a waffle outside with red bean inside.

·         Tokyo – We ate a su shi dinner, of course!

·         Visited the center of Shibuya (Tokyo), the largest crossing in the world.

 

Day 2: Hakone

·         Mt. Fuji – Beautiful views of the active volcano. We ate "black egg," the egg that is hard boiled in the water from the mountain that contains sulfur. This chemical reaction causes the egg shell to turn black. Eating the egg is believed to add seven years to a person's life.

·         Cable Car – Views of Mt. Fuji as we traveled down the mountain from the overlook. We came to the lake at the bottom where we took a Pirate ship across.

·         Open Air Museum – Dedicated to Picasso, the museum was full of sculptures.

·         Japanese Hotel – dinner in Kimono's and a visit to the hot springs!

 

Here is a picture from our traditional dinner. I think I have finally mastered chopsticks.

 

 

Japan Recap! (Day 1 & 2)

Day 1: Yokohama & Toyko

·         Explored the port city of Yokohama, the 2^nd largest city in Japan, in the morning. This was the first time I had ever been immersed in a country that spoke another language!

·         Group drum lesson on traditional taiko drums

·         Visited our first temple which was a large red building with intricate details decorating the sides. There was a market lining the streets leading to the temple. Here we ate a traditional "cookie", a waffle outside with red bean inside.

·         Tokyo – We ate a sushi dinner, of course!

·         Visited the center of Shibuya (Tokyo), the largest crossing in the world.

 

Day 2: Hakone

·         Mt. Fuji – Beautiful views of the active volcano. We ate "black egg," the egg that is hard boiled in the water from the mountain that contains sulfur. This chemical reaction causes the egg shell to turn black. Eating the egg is believed to add seven years to a person's life.

·         Cable Car – Views of Mt. Fuji as we traveled down the mountain from the overlook. We came to the lake at the bottom where we took a Pirate ship across.

·         Open Air Museum – Dedicated to Picasso, the museum was full of sculptures.

·         Japanese Hotel – dinner in Kimono's and a visit to the hot springs!

 

Here is a picture from our traditional dinner. I think I have finally mastered chopsticks.

 

 

Japan!

After a long stretch across the pacific we finally reached Japan this morning at 6am! I will spend the next 6 days exploring the country!


Sent from my iPhone

Sunset over the Pacific

We are two days away from Japan! Enjoyed a gorgeous sunset tonight. 

The Bridge

My friend Tricia and I got a tour of the bridge today. It was a great view of the ocean open ahead of us. We learned from the 3rd officer and deckhand about their responsibilities on the ship and daily life. Fun fact, we burned about $70,000 worth of fuel on our first day at sea! Due to the storm we went approximately 400-500 miles extra, that's a lot of money burned! But we are lucky we did so, as these were the second largest waves the 3rd officer had ever experienced at sea. They were 6 meters high. It was interesting to see the many charts, flags, and technology that are helping us navigate the globe. 

Storms

Our captain has changed the route of our voyage to Japan to avoid a storm. We are traveling around it as much as possible. The center of the storm has waves of 50 feet, luckily we will only experience 20 foot waves. But it will still be the worst weather we have had by far and should be quite an experience. Especially due to the fact that I had a reaction to the seasickness patch and cannot wear it until my vision is back to normal which could be another 2 days. It is 12:30 PM here now and the weather should start sometime this afternoon and continue through tomorrow.  Wish us luck!