FromSea2ShiningSea

Yes, we did try some. They were very good and fresh. I would say food prices are fairly reasonable here due to the exchange rates being very good right now and prices for food at home has gone up so much that restaurant have no choice but to raise their prices, too.

Day 2. So after checking out of the hotel yesterday, we headed out to the Osaka Station to find the platform where our Nozomi - Japan’s super fastest bullet train will take us to Hiroshima. We got reserved seats for the 9:02AM train so we had to make sure we get on the right car. It’s 200 miles to Hiroshima and it took less than 1 1/2 hours from the Osaka Station to get to the Hiroshima Station (It was still rainy). From there, we took a local train to get to the JR Miyajima Ferry to take us over to Miyajima. The clouds were started to lift by now and we could see glimpse of blue sky. The ferry that ferried us over to Miyajima. The O-Torii Gate is to the left of the picture. The O-Torii Gate from the ferry Made it to Miyajima. We strolled through the town where many vendors are. It was very packed with tourists. Oysters is the popular food here because it is farmed here. This was at near low tide at 3:15. People started walking out to the gate. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel- Miyajima Seaside Hotel. Welcome to our humble abode Looking out The view from our room window Our dinner at the hotel During your dinner, your room is set up for bedtime.

We made it to Osaka yesterday safely after a 12 hour flight. Got through customs and immigration in about half an hour. Then we had to take care of business such as picking up the Pocket WiFi, going to the JR ticket office for our JR Pass and ICOCA cards for local transit. We got to our hotel by 7:30PM which is 3:30AM back home. I was so tired we didn’t go back out to get some eat. I just wanted to go to sleep. The time difference really messes you up. The view looking out the room window.. This morning, we had a nice hotel breakfast buffet. Now we are on the way to Hiroshima on the bullet train. Weather is cold but not rainy now. We’ll see what adventure we can get into today.

Happy Belated Birthday, @Ozark_Kid John! 🎂🎈🎉 Hope you had a great day yesterday!

Finally! Maybe this time it’s for real. We are getting ready to board our flight to Japan after 6 attempts at visiting there since 2019. Each time, it was cancelled because of chartered, changed ships, COVID, and lift and shifts. But we stuck with it, hoping someday it would happen. So, here we are, finally, 2024. I am feeling nervous and excited. We will be on a 2 week adventure on our own before boarding the Celebrity Millennium for a 12-Night cruise around Japan. I am really excited about sharing this trip with you all.

March 27, 2026 Celebrity Ascent

We did, too!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! What luck! Fans who visit Krispy Kreme Donuts dressed in green this weekend can get a FREE green O’riginal Glazed Donut. Even the inside is green. This green looks a lot like Wicked (from the Broadway Musical) to me.

How fun! Thanks for inviting us into your living room and share this awesome experience with us. That Country Road song is still stuck in my head.

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Dani @dani negreanu!

@grapau27 Happy Birthday to Pauline! 💐 🎈 🎂

Very nice, Andrew! What a fabulous way to start a vacation! Have a great cruise!

Graham, I'm so sorry for the loss of your Sarah's father. I hope he made amends with you all before he passed.

I love camellia plants and this camellia plant called “Mrs. Tingley” is my favorite. It is still very small in stature and hasn’t really grown much after so many years. I don’t have a green thumb at all so I am very happy when I see blooms on it. I think it doesn’t get the right sun exposure. Whereas this camellia has tons of bloom on it. It was planted in the perfect location in the yard. These irises are very hardy. We didn’t even plant them. It has been here for over 30 years. They just keep coming back year after year. This magnolia tree sits in front of a local hospital. It is beautiful when the tree is in full bloom. This was taken a couple weeks ago.

From what some aviation experts say is that a loose tire is normally a maintenance issue and not a problem created by the manufacturer. So in this case, I guess the maintenance team that changed the tire didn’t do a very good job at tightening the lug nuts. I just read that in Miami, apparently, an American Airlines plane’s wing clipped the tail of a Frontier Airlines plane that was parked at a gate preparing to board passengers.

Yesterday morning, a tire fell off of a United Airlines jetliner bound for Osaka, Japan during its take-off from SFO. The plane made an emergency landing in LAX. That loose tire smashed into a small compact car in an employee parking lot where it then bounced off and totally crushed a red Tesla. Fortunately, no one was hurt. This is the same flight/plane we will be taking for our trip to Japan in 2 weeks. Yikes! 😬 I hope it will be a boring non eventful flight for us.

It’s Super Tuesday. Krispy Kreme Donuts had an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s the little things in life.

Going home this morning. A rainbow for you all. @ReneeFLL I hope you and Mike are enjoying your VV cruise. @A&L_Ont Have a wonderful time on your cruise. @dpostman Have a great week at your first AI in Cuba.

@DaniDanielle Marietta, I’m so sorry for the passing of your friend. @Sunshine3601 Debbie, I hope your ear is doing better and have a great cruise! @jmh2006 & @Momof3gurlz Enjoy your cruise, Jennifer & Dave and Deb & Andy! @BonTexasNY Bonnie, so nice to hear from you. Best wishes to your daughter. She sounds like an amazing person. Prayers for her and for your umbilical hernia surgery. @Luckynana The new parents are doing fine. It’s a lot of stuff to learn. It was sad to leave after our visit. I wish we could live closer so I could be of more help to them. Thanks for asking, Maryann. This is for @Jimbo. Jimbo’s Natural Foods - an organic grocery store very similar to Whole Foods. There are a bunch of eateries, breweries and wine bars in the Sky Deck above the market. For our last night with the kids, we ate at a Thai restaurant in the Sky Deck above Jimbo’s. Food was excellent. So delicious! One of the dishes: Braised Beef Panang Curry Red Curry with Duck

Happy Hour at Ruth's Chris Steak House during our trip visiting DS1, DDIL, & new baby. Spicy Shrimp & Seared Ahi Tuna Appetizers Ruth's Cheeseburger Steak Sandwich Pacific Sunset Sunset over the Pacific Ocean

Thank you for asking, Debbie. They are doing the best they can with all that comes with a newborn, trying to figure a lot of stuff out. I think the lack of sleep though is pretty hard. We can’t wait to see them next week.

That was previously true where you could order it on the children’s’ menu but since the menu change, they only offer ice cream or cookies. I showed the waiter the picture of my creation, he did try to duplicate it for me, which was nice of him.

While we are in the Windjammer, here is some beautiful cheese and fruits/veggie artistry.

Some cute creations in the Windjammer This was my creation. I had plans for the banana I took from breakfast in the Windjammer one morning. That was to make a Banana Split for dessert that night. I brought the banana back at dinner time, sliced it in half and the Ice Cream station person scooped in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream on the banana. I added sauce to each (except for vanilla because they didn’t have pineapple sauce). A wait staff went and got whipped cream from another venue for me. I added cherries on top from the Windjammer bar. Topped it off with a few nuts and I had a banana split. The Ice Cream station guy thought it was a great idea.

Marietta, this must’ve been so scary for you. I’m so sorry you have been going through so much bad stuff in your life lately. I pray that the dark clouds will clear and give way to some sunshine for you soon. Hugs.