Well, no time for blogging on the trip….or when I got home. My sister and niece were there when I got home; my brother and wife arrived the next day — then left two days later, but daughter Melissa and husband Karl and oldest grandchild Kathryn all arrived Sunday night for the eclipse on Monday (which was spectacular from our home).
Anyway, my foot kept me from going on excursions the next two days. So Kathryn and John went to Kochi and saw the castle.
The next day John and Kathryn went to Beppu where there were many natural hot springs.
It’s orange/red from the soil or rock of the area.
The following day was at sea and then we arrived in Seoul, Korea. The most important temple there is Jogyesa Temple, built in 1395. It was beautiful! Many Asian visitors dress in their historic formal dress….fun to behold!
We went to another nearby temple but I have forgotten the name. It was colorful!
The next day was another sea day as we traveled to Shanghai, China. We had been there before but LOVE that city. First thing was a city tour which was fine since we had not taken one before. You will notice that I like flowers and really appreciate how much they use flowers! By the way, it was really cold and also windy. We walked along the Bund, looking at the buildings from Old Shanghai.
Below is a view across the river to the Pudong area of Shanghai, formerly a meadow, and developed in the last 20 years or so as the space-age business and financial center of Shanghai.
And then we went to Chinatown.
And into the Yu Garden — beautiful!!!
We took a picture of the cutest little boy flirting with me.
We took a picture of Kathryn on the crooked bridge.
We headed to a library known as the “White House” in the French Concession that could only be entered from the front steps; they went in and I waited in the cold!
We headed back toward the ship and saw some nice after dark views.
And the nice views of Pudong from the ship and back to the Bund on the other side.
Our favorite waiter, Sherwin. He wishes his last name were Williams, he said!
Our last stop on the cruise was in Kagoshima, Japan. It is mostly known for its access to Sakurajima. Sakurajima is a stratovolcano formed from layers of lava and ash. It is still an active volcano and about 60,000 people live on the island where it is located. We were told by our guide that the people of Kagoshima only do their laundry on days when the wind is blowing the other way from the volcano; otherwise their clothes would be covered in ash before they dried! We had to take a ferry to get there.
And we saw a couple getting wedding pictures taken.
One fact about Japan we learned along the way from lectures on the cruise is that Japan is composed of four major islands, has a land area approximately the size of California, and has a population of 122 million people; however, because of numerous high mountain ranges only approximately 30% of the country is plateau and habitable. This results in incredible density in Tokyo and other metropolitan areas.
A c ouple more meals, Easter along with the Easter display with a big bowl of jelly beans, and disembarkation ended our cruise.
We were then picked up at the cruise terminal to begin our next adventure-three days in Hakone, Japan for more cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji and other interesting sites.
See you then,
Beth
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