Around the World in 128 Days - Kobe Day 2

 

Travel Day 60 - March 3, 2024 - 5,749 Steps


The day was sun and cold. There was ice on the decks of the ship this morning as the thermometer recorded 31 outside.


Everywhere in Kobe buildings seem to be going up.


Our day's excursion had two stops, the first being a Sake Museum.


Where it was reproduction or original, huge beams were incorporated into the museum.


Where sake starts. With rice.


There are many kinds of rice,  just as there are many kinds of sake crafted by a master brewer.


Linda found the rice straw boots especially interesting.



Water and rice begin their transformation.


Each tool and receptacle serves a specific function.


Some containers are bigger than others.


Beautiful young model posing in front of the above container to show how large it was.


After the rice has been washed and properly steamed it must be cooled. The pot master makes sure the lines in the spread rice are in perfect harmony to ensure all the rice cools at the same rate and to the same extent.



Seed mash being prepared to ensure the perfect ratio of water and rice.





Wooden casks of sake.



After being barreled in the Yoshino Cedar casks, the casks are wrapped with the brand printed on woven straw mats that are tied on.



Sampling, only one had any flavor at all.


Sake drinking can be very ritualistic.


Sake cups.



Ritual and art combined.


Many. many different variations of sake.


The that had taste when we sampled the sake.


I gues Linda was in another women's restroom.


The bus was well marked, we were group 14 and here we needed to be back on the bus at 10:30.


The drive had this plant next to his seat.


Mount Rokko, the highest point above Kobe and Osaka is a major tourist attraction and second and final stop on our excursion.



In line to get on the gondola.


Well, they call it a gondola but it was an inclined railway.




No getting lost returning to the ship in the Port Terminal Building what with all the signs.



Fireboat salute on arrival and a band sendoff when we left. Other than it was bitingly cold the entire time we were there it wasn't a bad place to visit.




It was like the container cranes were also saluting us as we left Kobe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Around the World in 128 Days - Arrival at Ft. Lauderdale and back home again

Image
  The Cruise is Over - May 11, 2024 - 5,904 Steps It was over months ago we walked out to this same spot shortly after we boarded the ship. Then it was a glorious and joyous afternoon, today it was a glorious but sad morning.  Instead of watching to see if could recognize our luggage being loaded aboard the Zuiderdam, it was watching to see if we could spot it being off loaded. The lineup of trucks bringing provisions for the next sailing that would be leaving a few hours. Trucks were lined up in the far distance awaiting their turn to unload. Port Everglades is a very busy cruise ship terminal. There was a staggering amount of food to be loaded onto the ship. A pallet of apples. A last look at the old home place that served us so well for the past mounts. Literally shutting the door on one of the most awesome adventures we have ever been on. But the fall of next year we will be opening the door on an another one. We patiently waited for our group, Gray 1, to be called. The lu...
Read more

Around the world in 128 Days - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Image
  Travel Day 126 - May 8, 2024 - 7,666 Steps Joe and Patrick our room stewards who have gone way beyond and above to not only keep our room in perfect conditions, but also have a great sense of humor. If it looks familiar it's because it the same one I recently read. I mentioned to Linda I thought she would enjoy reading it, and she did. You never know how things like this are going to turn out. It proved to be great from original songs, standup comedians, dancing, musical instruments. There's talent hidden amongst the ship's passengers. It took a while after Jose And Grace were transferred  from the Lido, but in the opposite corner of the Lido we found Lisna, who was every bit as awesome as they were. David's history presentation, proving once again that only a tiny bit of history is about names and dates like we were taught in high school. A cartoon from several centuries ago portraying the effects of consuming too much sugar on the King of England. And it is a slight...
Read more

Around the World in 128 Days - At Sea Day Next to Last Day of the Cruise

Image
  Travel Day 127 - May 9, 2024 - 5,904 Steps Gonna miss this view in a few days. With the cruise drawing ever closer to be over, Linda has certainly been glad of the many "Linda" sea days like today.. The laundry always comes back with one of these stickers on each article. Too bad it took until the last week to learn we could have pulled them off when putting the freshly laundered cloths away. All that scratchy itchy underwear!  Linda once again in the front row for Kim's interview. It was the bridge officers turn this morning. There is so much we learned about the operation of the ship from these sessions. David is ending his lectures with one today and tomorrow on Russia. Ivan set the tone for what Russia is even today. Enemies of the Russian ruler are simply killed. It's been that way for over 450 years. The last Tsar. And what came after the tsars was just as bad. It was little things like this which made the voyage so interesting. How one puts a survival suit on...
Read more