April 12 Kobe - Kyoto

We arrived in port of Kobe to the most raucous welcome since some of the African ports.  There was a brass band, the official greeter/waver, and I'm told there was a fireboat on the other side spraying water.  The band opened up with "Washington Post March" to great acclaim.  Who knew that John Phillips Sousa was so big in Japan.  Very impressive.

The official greeter waved for about an hour without stop.  And she returned for the sailaway in the evening.

We opted to take the long bus ride to Kyoto, known for its temples and old beauty.  Some pictures along the way.

The Japanese love to get their picture taken.

The Golden Pavilion has 60kg of gold applied to the second and third floors as gold leaf.  Very bright in the sun

It was very crowded in the walkways around the pavillion, mostly people doing this.

Lunch was at a wedding resort.  Lunch came into a bento box, bringing back not fond memories of my business trips to Japan in the 80s and 90s.  Although I'm sure that this was a delicacy for Japanese, once again I found the rice to be delicious. 

Right next to the restrooms was a huge bowling alley.  With statues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the entrance. 

There's a chapel and an impossibly blue swimming pool on the grounds.

I can imagine your auto GPS saying "Turn right onto Marutam..... Street" and you being 2 blocks past by the time she had finished.

The Nijo Castle didn't allow pictures inside, although one member of our group tried and was escorted out after ignoring the signs.  The castle is famous for its "nightingale"  floors that squeak like a bird call as you walk across them.  This would alert the shogun if ninjas were coming to assasinate him in the night.

Final stop in Kyoto was the Sanjusangendo Temple, home of 1001 Buddhas.  Shoes and cameras were both off during the visit.  There were indeed 1001...I didn't count them, but did the quick estimate.

Everything is available in vending machines in Japan.

 A quick view of the Osaka Castle on the drive back to the port

 As we departed, they were still waving from the cruise terminal.  Even the African ports with their enthusiastic welcomes didn't wave as we pulled away.  And the bridge next door was decked out with lights.

Personal note:  We were unaffected by the earthquake in Japan that took place last night (4/14) as we were underway from Okinawa.  We did have a brief power outage, reason unknown.  Perhaps somebody leaned back into the Big Red Button on the wall.