drron29

The bar/cafe at the hotel was rather strange it obviously is mainly an afternoon tea place. a secondary use is as a place for desserts. there is a very short list of other options. So here is the menu. But you can have Parkling wine. We decided to share the pizza and really liked it. I washed it down with a local beer made for the other IC in Yokohama. Rojaan had her usual sav blanc. .

I went over to the Red brick warehouse which have restaurans and stores. But bedlam with the autumn festival plus in this area a special dog festival with dogs everywhere and lots of stalls selling dog products. I couldn't find the other 100 dalmatians. And my prize went to the little grey fellow who was on a mission to sniff every other dogs behind.

Lots of restaurants. this one looked interesting. Then I tried to figure out what this place was. Turned out to be a wedding chapel. When the young lass told me that I answered married ichi,ni , san times ie shi. She and her colleagues burst out laughing. More social distancing to cross the road to join the throng of Festival goers. The diamond Princess and various stalls. Then Japanese English is always good for a smile Passing the fun park I was in time to see a roller coaster ride. Full of the local folk there was only the sound of the roller coaster itself until it was just about to stop at the bottom when they all threw up their hands and screamed. Just a delayed reaction? Then back to the little festival outside the hotel. They now had some live entertainment. I am not sure what these young women were going to do on stage. This was probably a comedy routine due to the loud laughter from the locals. The one with the microphone is a local radio announcer.

Next it was many wine stalls. This just a short selection. Wines from all over including Ukraine Georgia,Jordan as well as all the well known wine producing regions including the Clare Valley in south Australia and one of the winemakers was present. this was the Clare wine. The Clare is known for excellent reislings.

Then beer outlets. This one had won a best beer in japan so i tried it. Not bad at all.

Now my afternoon walk. Down to the harbourside and a walk along the Promenade this building was the seafood restaurant of the Intercontinental but it hasn't reopened after the pandemic. A Saturday and many were fishing. only catching tiddlers. The new Intercontinental. It was Autumn festival time with lots of people out and some interesting outlets. The first ones I came across were 6 gin outlets. Food outlets were common.

That afternoon I went for a walk. Just outside the hotel there was a little Autumn festival going on. A few food trucks. So chicken Karaage it was. 600 yen $A7.40. $US 4.

Continuing the view from the Sky Garden. And that dear friends is our latest unsuccessful attempt at seeing Fuji. You can just make out a faint line leading up from the second peak on the left. A large cemetery. And some funny stuff in the shop. A classic Japanese restaurant. And another Japanese sign where you wonder why they are using it.

On the first morning in Yokohama it was time to try and get my shoe fixed and buy a new computer mouse. got the places from the concierge but they weren't open until 11 am. So after a couple of shots out the window - Just after 11 we set off for the shoe repairer. Dropped my shoe off needing some bad Japanese from me, not so good English from the shoe repairer and a bit of sign language and I was to pick up the shoe in 24 hours. Seeing we were in the building which contains the Landmark tower Sky Garden we thought we would go there. On the way we saw something I never knew I wanted - A Swirkle. Out side of the mall was an old dry dock. Also just over the road is the Nippon Maru which was a training ship Put it on the list for the afternoon Then up to the 69th floor. No need for reservations. Walked in , bought the tickets and 2 mins later in the lift rising at 750 metres per minute. Great views. A ship going up to Tokyo.

My plates.

Overnight the Diamond Princess had arrived. Then Breakfast. not a bad selection. Here they make you use breakfast coupons.

Later that night an orange moon rising. The next morning a nice sunrise.

I went for a little walk to check out the area. Found a Daiso (100 yen ) store to take Rojaan to in the morning. Just a few pics on my walk. That night down to their bar/cafe. A very unusual place with very limited savory menu. we shared a strange club sandwhich. But some beautiful night scenes.

We checked out just before 1400 and caught the shuttle to Hamamatsuucho station. Unfortunately I had not looked up details of the station and we were dropped about 100 metres away on a stretch of road with a fence between it and the footpath so had to walk down the road and then cross over the road. Unfortunately the entrance we were closest too had no lift or escalator. It turned out we needed to go around the corner. I struggled with the suitcase up the stairs and managed to get my shoe caught on the lip of a step causing the sole to come adrift. Fortunately a young Japanese fellow came to the rescue and took the case up. Then it was a local train on the keihin - tohoku line which was supposed to take us to Sakuragicho. However about half way it terminated and we had to cross the platform and catch the next train. We had wondered why it was emptying rapidly. Made Sakuragicho without further hassle and got a taxi to the Intercontinental Yokohama Grand. just over a km and 800 yen `$9. Now the IC here is not as nice as the Tokyo Bay IC but significantly cheaper. There is a newer IC here Pier 8 but it is nearly 3 times the price. Upgraded from king City view to King Harbour view. No club access and took breakfast as the amenuty and got a 1400 check out though we will probably be gone by 1300. So here is the room. And the views. The ship is the Akusa 2 which is locally owned and does cruises for locals so doesn't appear on the cruise terminal movements, it sailed that evening. It was built as the Crystal Harmony. It caught fire on it's maiden voyage in 1990. It was sold to the NYK group in 2006. It again caught fire in 2006 whilst docked in Yokohama. That is the Hikawa Maru a Japanese built ship now a museum. It was the only NYK passenger ship out of 36 to survive WW2,

A little later they were loading stuff from the trucks into containers. My breakfast. After breakfast a ferry being refuelled. A little later heard trumpets. looked out our window and saw this below. And how many of you have seen a bridal couple do this.

Back to Tokyo. As you can tell this is not going to be a live report. The last night at IC Tokyo Bay we went back down to Hudson's bar. We once again shared the salmon roe and whitebait pizza. We really loved it. Rojaan had wine and I one of my favourite Japanese beers. Next morning I awoke at sunrise.

Message passed on to NAIA and she appreciated it. She was supervising a new butler who agreed that she is a nice person and wonderful teacher.

And you are requested to wear a jacket on informal nights in Atlantide, SALT/Indochine and silver note. Hence the colourful jackets come out on informal nights. Formal I wear a dinner suit. There are the usual restaurants that allow the dress code to be relaxed so no jacket required. It does depend on the Maitre'D/restaurant manager enforcing the dress code. some don't but it is on this cruise. I saw 2 gentlemen without jackets and a lady wearing shorts and a T shirt being turned away from Atlantide last night.

The dress code is listed as formal, informal or casual as it has been before Nova.

So the blue jacket makes it’s first appearance. And in other news the Maitre’D and Restaurant Manager are enforcing the dress code in Atlantide.

I immediately thought the same as they took off.

What is wrong with this picture from the Muse now. Midday on a glorious (said with a Roy Perez accent ) day in Osaka. And only 4 sun lounges with towels on. No books, socks or anything else on the lounges.

Well yesterday on the Muse my excursion had 32 guests and 1 guide. turned out not to be a major problem. The guide was young and a bit nervous but an OK job. We visited the Kuramon fish market in Osaka and the Katsuo-ji temple in the mountains. The only excursion I wanted in Osaka as we have stayed in Osaka and Kyoto several times and visited Nara on 3 occasions. The temple basically was the only major temple I had not visited. It was very nice and would be a recommendation. We were all slow apart from 1 young couple who did their own thing but were back at the stated time to get back on the bus.