Osaka Castle and Dotombori

We were up early as usual. The ship wasn't docking at Osaka until after 11am, so we spent the morning in the solarium hanging out in the hot tub. There's  also a very nice coffee shop onboard that opens at 5.30am and has become our goto place first thing.

Our excursion today started at the Dotombori shopping district . It was exactly what I'd imagined a Japanese shopping street to be like, and I bought too much stuff.

After that, we went to Osaka Castle. The main tower is 8 storeys tall,  so it was a long way to the top. The weather here is pretty hot, so after all that climbing we found a nice rooftop bar at a nearby building and had an ice cold drink, sitting in the breeze.  The castle complex was lovely, but I wish we'd had more time to look around.  

The hot day really took it out of us and we didn't have the energy to stay awake for the Taiko drumming show and went to bed at 7pm.  Party animals aren't we?

A Cloudy Day at Mt Fuji

Today we are docked at Shimizu, which is the closest port to Mt Fuji.  Our excursion took us to Hongu Shrine first.  This is a Shinto shrine.  The gate (which looks like a bird perch in shape) is called a tori, ans you should bow before walking through it.

After that, we went to the Mt Fuji World Heritage Centre. The building is designed to look like an upside down version of the mountain. Inside, you walk up a spiral ramp to the top, where there is a viewing platform. Unfortunately,  the mountain (who is female) is shy and is often hiding behind a bank of cloud. That was the case for us today. So we had an ice cream in the cafe to make up for our disappointment. 

Despite missing out on the view of the mountain, I found it really interesting to see the ordinary Japanese houses along our coach route.  The areas around the airport and the cruise port were very industrial and all modern high rise buildings. They have so many earthquakes here that there aren't a lot of older buildings.

Back on the ship, we took part in a couple of trivia quizzes but didn't win.  There are more Aussies on the ship than Americans, so the competition is a lot stiffer!

All Aboard Celebrity Millennium

 We were up early this morning,  about 4am to be exact.  After taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport we managed to locate the Celebrity rep and took our private car transfer to the port at Yokohama.  The car was very luxurious and our driver was called Nishio. 

Boarding went quickly and efficiently and we started with a celebratory cocktail. I had an appletini

We'd made sure to pack our swimsuits in our hand luggage, so we were able to spend the afternoon with the hot tubs to ourselves

Having been up since 4am we were completely knackered and ended up going to bed at 6pm. Yes, you heard that right. We're really pushing the boat out.

Arrived in Tokyo

This is just a short update to tell everyone we've arrived safely in Tokyo.  Had a nice overnight stay at Vancouver airport and it was a lovely morning as we waited at the gate for our flight to Tokyo.

It was a long flight and it took us almost as long to get through the queue at immigration when we landed. It reminded me of the queueing system at a Disney ride: you'd think you were getting close to the immigration desk and then it would veer off again and take you in a big loop somewhere else.

We were so knackered by the time we got to hotel that we just ate in the coffee shop and went to bed at 7pm.  We've now been up since 4am. It's quite hot here.

Didn't see much of anything except the airport yesterday,  so I don't have any photos of Japan except for this nice one of our high tech loo at the hotel. 

We should be meeting the cruise rep this morning and then heading to Yokohama to board the ship. 

Off to Japan

 Setting off for Japan tomorrow for a cruise, followed by a week in South Korea. Check in here for daily updates.

Wibbly Wobbly bridge and Sky Garden

We made our way over to Monument station this morning and walked along the Thames Path towards the Millenium bridge.  There was a lone Egyptian goose hanging out on the side of the river.

The Millenium Bridge, more affectionately known as the Wibbly Wobbly bridge is a pedestrian bridge across the Thames that was opened in 2000 and closed just days later due to its alarming wobble.  Apparently the sideways steps of large crowds matched the natural frequency of the bridge causing a feedback loop.  The bridge was closed for 2 years while dampeners were fitted to control the movements. 

Becky and I walked across the bridge to the South side of the river where the Tate Modern and the reproduction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre stand.  Got some nice photos from the centre of the bridge of the views down river.

Then we took the Thames Path again on the south bank before walking back across Southwark bridge. 

By this time we were withtn 30 minutes of our lunch reservation, so we made our way over to the Walkie Talkie building.  

The Walkie Talkie, officially known as the Fenchurch building, hosts London's highest public garden: the Sky Garden.  It's free to get in, but you have to get tickets online and queue first. However, if you happen to have a reservation at one of the 2 restaurants up in the garden, you get priority and don't need a ticket or to queue. We've tried several times to get a lunch reservation,  but the restaurants are usually booked up well in advance. This time I booked back in November and finally managed to get in.  

We went up early and had some great views from the top of the building before a very nice lunch at the Darwin Brasserie. Its a good thing we went up early as it started snowing during our meal and you couldn't see anything after that.

After our late lunch and some more perusing of the gardens we headed over to Picadilly for some shopping before spending the evening in the hotel bar again.

The Canterbury Tales

We arrived at St Pancras yesterday and made our way across London to our hotel at Paddington.  Today, we decided to take the train from Victoria to Canterbury.  I'd never been to Canterbury before and its a very pretty town with lots of old buildings.

We went around the cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered and saw the tombs of King Henry IV and the Black Prince.  The original funerary clothes of Edward the Black Prince were on display in the crypt. Apparently they had been hung above his tomb for over 600 years, so they must have been very well made to still be in one piece.

We had a late lunch in the Thomas Beckett pub, where we were greeted by 2 very friendly resident pub dogs: Rocco and Maira.  I couldn't finish my rather large lunch, so I did give them some of my chips at the end.

After some shopping we returned to London later in the afternoon and have just had some drinks in the hotel bar this evening.