Kobe!

Yesterday I took a day trip to Kobe. It's only a 1/2 hour away - if you get on the express train.
It's larger than Himeji - about 1 1/2 million (Himeji is a 1/2 million), and I was definitely looking for a day in the big city! I met up with a friend who took me on walking tour of the highlights of the city - Ikura Shrine, Chinatown, the port area and Port Tower, and the historic part of town where the ex-pats used to live. We had a tasty lunch of nachos and bean burrito (both were yummy, but not much can compare to Phoenix's Mexican food).
Kobe is a very international city - I saw The Gap, Patagonia, Eddie Bauer, and LL Bean stores. I stopped into The Gap to see what they had - everything was in XXS, XS, and S sizes! I also wandered over to the Earthquake Memorial Park (remember the 1995 earthquake in Kobe which killed 6,000 people?) It was very cool -they kept a part of the pier as it was damaged. Unfortunately my camera batteries died just then, and I didn't have extra (what sort of traveller am I, if I can't even remember extra camera batteries!).
Here are a few photos: the entrance to Ikura Shrine, people praying at the shrine, and some wooden messages holding wishes (Aiko, can you tell us what these are for?), me at Kobe port, Kobe Port Tower, a shopping area (I love the way they cover these areas. They're filled with stores of every kind), and plastic food on display outside a restaurant (these displays are very, very common.)


I really enjoyed my day in Kobe and certainly will be going back. Maybe even today. There is a Costco near there, and some people from the apartment are going there today. I offered to stay home and watch "little Sara", the 18 month old of another teacher, so maybe that's my plan for today instead.