March 2, 2024 Kobe, Japan Day 4 of 24

Hello from Kobe. Home of amazing Sake and beef. I woke up at 5:30am before the alarm this morning. I finally got my first goods night sleep since leaving CA. A solid 7 hours. I headed to the gym and watched the sunrise over Kobe as we came into port. The colors in the sunrise were so warm and welcoming. It heightened my anticipation for today’s adventures. We got ready for the day and headed to the Neptune Lounge for breakfast this morning. The ship was greeted by many locals starting with a display from a fire ship spraying water up to welcome us to port. The dock was filled with many people waving and greeting us to Kobe along with cameras and news crews. We met our Cruise Specialists team starting with our friend Tom in the Rolling Stone lounge and then headed to meet our tour bus and our other two Cruise Specialist team members Keith and Suzie. I had the opportunity to meet Keith yesterday by Megan had not. Just one of the wonderful advantages to booking with this amazing company. There are three representatives on the ship with us at all times and they escort us on excursions we book through them and take such wonderful care of us. We had a 90 minute bus ride to Kyoto. We visited the Kinkaku-Ji Temple. It is also known as the Golden Temple. The exterior of the top two floors of this three story building is covered in Gold leaf. Sadly, you are not allowed inside the building but there are photos that you can see of what is looks like. The grounds surround the area are beautiful as this was once a Munk sanctuary and place of meditation. There are place you can purchase “good luck” charms throughout and we bought a few. There is also two place you can pitch coins and if you make it inside the concrete bowl it is said you will have good luck. I am happy to say I made my coin into the bowl. I will let you know how that luck shot works out. There was also a large gong on sight that you could ring for a fee and Megan and I both took the opportunity to do. I know understand why people do sounding bowl therapy. The feeling in my body as the gong echoed after being struck was both soothing and comforting. After we left the palace we drove into another part of town and we passed the Nishi Hong-ji temple and the Nino Castle. We retuned to the later after lunch. We ate a lovely buffet lunch and had some free time after eating. Megan I walk around a bit and ventured a little through the Kyoto Station and got a lovely picture of the Kyoto Tower. As we walked around it started to snow. It was so exciting to see snow…I know but was cold today, but we didn’t think lit was that cold. The weird part was that the sun was shining and it was snowing. It was like the pineapple showers in Hawaii, only colder. We boarded the bus again and headed back to the Castle. A beautiful restored and partial replicated castle filled with traditional styled architecture and murals. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take phots within the place but we got several pictures from the outside and around the grounds. Lastly, we drove to and then walked through the Gion district which is famous for its geisha entertainment room and tea houses. Megan and I had a chance to pop into a store and by some necessities and snacks. Megan had been wanting a Match tea whisk so I purchased her one as both out of need and as a nice souvenir of her travels here. We have a 90 minute drive back to the ship which put us back around 6:30pm. We had plans to have dinner with our crew friend Joy, from last year’s Neptune lounge at 6:00pm. She was so kind and understanding about our late arrival back to the ship. Tina and her crew were waiting for us and took such wonderful care of us at dinner. The crew is excited to get off the ship and go ashore as this is another overnight port so they can go out and not have to be back on board until late this evening. I am back to the room with a full tummy with a movie on while I fill you all in on today’s adventures. I expect to be fast asleep very soon. Today marked the 8th anniversary of the passing of my late husband. I felt his presence with me today (as I do most days) as he watched over us from above. It is always nice to honor him and remember him in our adventures. Just as I carry a little bit of all of you with me and think on the ones not here with us. Please enjoy the photos. It is so hard to choose which ones to post sometimes. Today was definitely one of those days.