The weather is finally on our side.  Thank heavens!  Today dawns bright and sunny, with a little fog in the morning, and while a tad cool – it is going to get all the way up to 75 degrees today.  We’ll take it!  We are going to Kobe to meet Zo again to finally tour around his home city.

Since Kobe is an hour away from where we dock (which is a bummer because the Quest docked in Kobe last time they were here!), we are getting off the ship first thing and taking the metro over to meet Zo there.  That means an early morning with no gym and breakfast ordered through room service.  We need to be on the gangway at 7:30 when we are released.  Unfortunately, we hit a room service snag – our breakfast was ordered for 6:30 to 7:00 and it doesn’t arrive until 7:10!  We were just about ready to give it up and go – so we quickly chow down on our fruit (for me) and eggs (for Ed) then head to the gangway.

We’re lucky and just happen to be at the gangway right as we are cleared, there is no one around, but the head security guy asks us if we are ready to go – and well, you know the answer to that!  So first port, first one’s off the ship!  (If only Simon were still around – he’d get a kick out of it!!!).  But, hey, we are on a schedule and there is a specific train we need to take to get to our station in Kobe.  We make it quite easily with our little Suica cards dwindling away. 

Zo is right at the station when we arrive – and we were 30 minutes early. Sweet!  So off we go into the sunshine walking up to the ropeway (cable car) – which isn’t even open yet because we are so early – to ride up, up, up to the top of the Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens, one of the largest herb gardens in Japan with over 75,000 herbs and 200 kinds of flowers blooming throughout the year.  The ride is beautiful, with Zo orchestrating where we should sit for the best views, then taking his own cable car so he won’t intrude upon our ride! The views across the city are incredible, unfortunately still a little foggy this early in the morning. But still, what a view! We can also look down into the gardens, all orderly and organized, as well as down to the Nunobiki waterfall.  Super fun.

Up at the top of the gardens, there are beautiful spring flowers, some that even look plastic, they are that perfect! So pretty – if we have to miss our yard during spring, we can at least spend a bit of time enjoying these flowers here in spring!  There is also a neat little fragrance museum with all sorts of oils infused with flowers and herbs – for all different remedies.  You can sample them all – and of course buy them if you want.

Back out in the garden, we wait until 10 for the trailway to open, then wander down the paved trail and stone stairways, through lush mountainside forest and into a brick garden area, where herb gardens are grouped for usage.  Cooking for salad, cooking for meat dishes.  Such a great idea.

Continuing down the trail, approaching the glasshouse (i.e., hot house), there is a lovely garden filled with newly planted spring flowers and an equally lovely marble sculpture.  The glasshouse contains more gorgeous flowers and trees – of the more tropical variety – such as ferns, banana trees and orchids.  There is also a fabulous wall of little herbaceous plants, interspersed with red flowers in the shape of hearts.  It is beautiful – and I use it to be an Insta-whore, posting that photo with the hashtag of the garden to get a “gift” on the way out.  Hey, what can I say? 

Alongside the glasshouse is a huge herb display, almost like a museum, with different rooms displaying a kitchen with things you can cook and bake with herbs and a bathtub filled with dry herbs that Zo explains represents and aroma bath, which you can book here, where they dry the herbs, then pour hot water over them for your bathing pleasure!  There is also a foot bath outside, overlooking the city which Zo says we can use, but we decline.  Maybe some other time!

The final section of gardens are terraced beds full of tulips and other freshly planted bulb flowers, then a section of rhodies and little rest areas full of hammocks. A totally lovely way to spend an hour or so on this beautiful day in Kobe.  We are so glad we did this tour today and not the last time we were in Osaka.  It would be miserable in the rain!

Exiting the gardens, we head uphill to the Kitano area, or the “foreigners” area, of Kobe.  Kobe was one of the first areas of Japan where foreign traders entered and then stayed.  When they established themselves here, they settled up on the slopes of the mountain side for the beautiful ocean views (and to be away from the local population!).  And they built their homes in the traditional style of their homelands.  Thus, there is the “American” house, built in traditional American style in 1903 for the US Council General.   There is the “German” house, it’s style transporting you right back to any traditional German town. The area is a lovely little enclave, and you can certainly see how the foreigners would have enjoyed living a rather cloistered life up here on the slopes over looking the seafront.

On the way back down into town, Zo treats us to pistachio ice cream, which he says is the best and local to Kobe.  It is very enjoyable, sitting here in the warm sun, snacking on our ice cream (which is good, but not overly pistachio in our opinion!).  Continuing on our journey, we head down toward the seafront, heading toward his “surprise” destination, which are the Sorakoen gardens, supposedly the most lovely Japanese gardens in the city.  Unfortunately, they are closed today!  Bummer.  So, we readjust and just head straight to Chinatown, which is much smaller than Yokohama, but nonetheless beautiful and filled with food and people.

There are so many delectable treats here, we could munch our way right through this street – but Zo thinks we need to try Kobe beef, and well, when in Rome…Kobe…..  So, we splurged on a Kobe beef lunch at Star Burger, Zo’s restaurant recommendation for good food and decent prices.  We debate and debate and debate about what to order, because while this may be reasonable, it is still really pricey.  The waiter of course recommends the top cut, which starts at something like $200 USD (yes, USD!) for 120gr of meat.  Um.  No, thank you.  Nothing is worth that price!  We opted for the minimal “greasy” (in the waiter’s word) cut for a measly $20 USD as well as a cheeseburger, which was far more reasonable.  Beer and wine rounded out our meal, which was good – the hamburger was extremely good, actually – but tbh, the Kobe beef steak?  Not all that special if you ask us.  Good, yes.  Special?  No.  Not for the money.  But you gotta try!

Finished with our meal, we found Zo outside (he doesn’t eat with us because he is fasting for Ramadan – don’t know how he does it, walking past all these temptations!  Dedication) and meandered our way to the seafront, passing the site where the first American Consulate in Kobe was constructed in 1868 (Now a newer building since earthquake and war destructions). 

On the waterfront, we visited the earthquake memorial, dedicated to the 1995 Hansin-Awaji earthquake that so devastated this area. It is a fascinating, in an awful way, memorial exhibit – with part of the original destroyed dock preserved to visually show the damage, photos of the pier and pier buildings, as well as a video on the destruction which was mindboggling. 

We finished our tour of the seafront at the Kobe Maritime museum – which was also surprisingly good and interesting.  Sponsored by Kawasaki, the museum had tons of model boats – of all sizes – depicting the ships that frequented the Port of Kobe, plus lots of historical displays and current day ships – both cruise ships and freighters.  They also had a ship handling simulator which we knew better than to try!  And a 3D Sea photo spot which I didn’t get at the time – but looking at the resulting photo, I guess I can see what they were getting after.  Maybe?

The best, though, was the Kawasaki Good Times World exhibit!  All about Kawasaki – they began in Kobe – and the products they develop and manufacture.  Yeah, we knew about the motorcycles, but had absolutely no idea about all the other things – planes, helicopters, bullet trains!  Yes, bullet trains!  We spent a lot of time in that exhibit, touring the life-sized bullet train compartment, inside the 12-passenger helicopter (eek!), looking at the cool robot they have developed for manufacturing.  Very fun little interlude – which Zo seemed to enjoy as well!

We took the city loop bus back into the main part of Kobe, then walked to the train station with a detour stop into the department store for their basement food section.  Zo was very proud of this floor – leading us through all the stalls and showing us all the great food you could buy – cooked to eat now, and for the future.  If we hadn’t already eaten, we definitely would have had something here – a cornucopia of excellent choices!  All the sweets and goodies were beautiful as well – displayed for their artistic composition as well as taste!  Totally fun.

After refilling our Suica cards, we bid Zo a fond farewell.  He has been a fabulous tour guide and companion on our two days together, and is such a great resource.  He has told us to keep in touch and ask any questions we might have. He is happy to help out.  So very nice.

After our hour’s train ride back to the pier, we wander the main street leading to the pier, looking for restaurant options for dinner.  We figure we’re here late, there is no reason not to eat outside.  There are a couple of options we note, but then we head into the mall at the pier where there is a huge food court with tons and tons of options – including Takoyaki, our favorite little octopus balls.  There is also this little restaurant tucked into the back of the court, run by what appears to be a family.  They are open until 8, and well, that just makes up our mind.  Why wander down the street when we can come right here, a 3 minute walk away.  Done deal.

Later, after our normal on ship routine – gym, drinks at the pool bar with Mark – we head back to the mall and straight to Osaka Teppanyaki Abenoya where we are the only tucked into our corner table (of course, where else?), perusing a huge menu where I can’t make up my mind between Okonomiyaki and Tompeiyaki, a lighter version of the Okonomiyaki made like a stuffed omelet.  The helpful waitress (daughter) and I get into this whole discussion about the differences between the two and which one I should order – she finally decides since it is my first time, I need to have the Tompeiyaki.  Sold!  Ed orders the “traditional sauce fried noodles,” i.e., Yakisoba, and we tuck into an absolutely excellent last meal of our favorite foods in Osaka.

Since it is our last night ever in Osaka, we decide to go all out and order “dessert” of Takoyaki, then double dessert (real dessert) which one of those little grilled waffle sort of fish Osamu bought us on the streets of Tokyo.  Yum.  Then we went a little crazy at the candy store – we’ve got Yen to blow and lots more days on this ship, so……I mean how can you resist Banana No Koibito when the explanation says it is for “your happy talking time”????  Or crackers that taste like Okonomiyaki?  You can’t.  You just can’t!

With our haul safely stowed in our cabin we make our way down to the Cabaret for a great production show, managing to snag “our” seats, and enjoy the rest of the evening sailing away from Osaka.  Boo Hoo.

At least we can look forward to our next stop, Kochi, and Katsuo no Tataki (OK, so it’s a food tour, what else would you expect from us???)