Day - 1680 - Kobe, Japan - Kyoto

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

We began our day with a wonderful buffet breakfast inside our hotel.  So good!

After breakfast, we took the free shuttle bus to Sannomiya station and a train to Kyoto.  From there, we took a local train to the Tori gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

 We spent about 90 minutes walking around the area, visiting the shrines, walking through a small section of the bright orange gates.

Alice wasn't able to pass up the mountain top through all 10,000 gates, so instead we walked through an alley of food and souvenir shops, buying a a big orange and straw with the juice pulp pulverized inside.  We also ate fresh strawberry mochi.

We then visited Gion, Kyoto's famous Geisha district, and walked along the famous street.

After a short rest at a very trendy Starbuck's (our Int'l rest stop of choice), we hit the Shinkyogoku Shopping Street for some street food, spice supplies, and endless souvenirs.

We stopped by the Kamo River on our way back to the Kawaramachi Line and Kyoto station.

We had an early dinner at a sushi restaurant next to the station.  Very tasty and nice to sit down after a busy day of touring.

After dinner, we walked around the enormous, futuristic Kyoto station.

When it was time to head back, we were exhausted.

What a great day in Kyoto!

Day - 1681 - Tokyo - Kobe, Japan

Monday, May 20, 2019

We spent the morning walking around our neighborhood ...

... and visiting the free Observatory inside the twin Government Building near our hotel.

The views were incredible.

We were off to Kobe around noon on the bullet train (Shinkansen).

We bought bento boxes for our journey train.  Though it was sunny in Tokyo, it was raining in Kobe.  They were good!

We reached Shin-Kobe by mid-afternoon and took a cab to our hotel on the water, the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel.  There was a light rain outside, but the rest of the week was supposed to be blue skies.

Great balconies

From our window

I snagged a great deal on a deluxe corner suite through Priceline back in December, so our room was really nice and spacious, as was our equally spacious balcony.

After a short rest, we went out for our Kobe beef dinner at Steakland.  It was fine, but nothing like the Kobe beef we had at Narisawa.  Still, it was fun to see the chef cooking our steak in front of us.

After dinner, we took a cab home and went to bed early.  We were both pretty tired after a full day of travel.

Day - 1682 - Tokyo, Japan

Sunday, May 19, 2019

We e-bicycled around our Shinjuku neighborhood in the early morning hours...

...then went to Ichiran for breakfast, an Alice Wu favorite spot for 24-hour Ramen.

After breakfast and biking, we took the Yurikamome subway line to the Digital Light Museum near the Port of Tokyo, crossing Rainbow bridge to get there.

We'd purchased tickets in advance for this extremely cool, very popular light experience.

There were several rooms that had different light effects, as well as tree-house type nesting areas to lie down while a light and music show projected onto a doomed ceiling.

In the cafe, we had tea that blossomed into light inside our cup . Very cool!

We spent about two hours at the museum, then went back to Shinjuku for another Alice Wu favorite restaurant, Katsukura, famous for their breaded pork chops (Tonkatsu).

studying the menu

mixing our sesame sauce

so good!

We had another 30-minute wait in front of the restaurant, but like the others it was worth it.

After lunch, we headed to Shibuya station for the famous Shibuya crossing.

By the time we finished it was time for dinner.  We went to one of the Keio department Store for take out and had an early dinner in our room.  We slept a few hours, then went out again for a 2 a.m. snack at a 24-hour cafe that made pot stickers and beef liver.  was in heaven!