Kobe, Japan - Saturday, February 13 ...my last day in Japan

My last day in Japan arrived and I realized that I would be in China in 3 days…this is so crazy!!!! Anyway I knew 2 things: One it needed to be a low key day and two I needed to eat sushi. So my day started by getting to downtown Kobe, walking around a bit before Janelle and I settled into a Starbuck’s to sip coffee and write postcards. We chatted for a little while and took our time finishing up our coffee and then headed out to meet Laura at the conveyor belt sushi that I had been craving for some time. The restaurant was on the 8th floor of some multilevel shopping center and we had a little bit of a wait but then we were seated in a booth that had a conveyor belt conveniently running by!! Basically you can take any plate that passes you by and at the end of the meal you pay per plate. We were also able to order some things off of the menu and they were made fresh to order. We chatted with one of the women who was working there and discovered that she had studied for a year in Seattle and she seemed quite excited to chat with us. As we were leaving friends from the ship were coming in, we wished them happy eating and we headed to Chinatown.

Now you are thinking didn’t she say she was going to China in 3 days…true statement. But, it was the start of the Chinese New Year and there was some sort of festival going on so we thought we would check it out. We walked around and ate some of the festival food and then on the way back to the ship we tried this pancake, cabbage omelet type thing that we were told we needed to try.  

Everything I ate today was delicious and I look forward to eating more tasty treats. We made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. And good news…everyone was on the ship on time!!!!!

I loved Japan; everyone was very friendly and helpful whenever it was needed. I did forget to mention the wonderful toilets that I got to put my tush on!!! They were headed which was quite lovely on some of our cooler days and there were all of these other buttons that did things. For example there is a button you can push that sounds like you are flushing so that way if you do not want others hearing you take care of business you can push this button!

Yes, I took photos of the toilet!!!

The next two days I will spend on the ship having meetings, resting up and mentally preparing to be in China.  I still can not believe that I am actually here on this ship traveling around the world.  And, I am so grateful to be with the group of people I am surrounded by...such an amazing group of people.