Tonight Antoine and I met in Kobe, and we went to Like, Like to have a few beers and compare notes on our last month. We’ve been out of touch for a little while, and we had a good time catching up. The bartenders at Like, Like were fun as usual, and we had a quick dinner and a couple of beers. I knew that I was hiking tomorrow, so I figured it would be good to break it up early.
On the way to the station we decided to explore Kobe Harborland, kind of a Pier 39 type thing that is frequented by couples, mostly. It has a boardwalk, a pier, and lots of attractions along the way, including a ferris wheel. We spent almost an hour exploring the area, but it was huge. There was a Brazilian restaurant there which looked interesting. There were mechanical animals to ride around. We dropped 200 yen into one, and Antoine got a 20 second ride. What a rip-off!
There was a boat docked there that is used for harbor cruises. Antoine and I boarded the ship without persmission and walked around a bit – it was pretty nice. They had a Christmas tree on the pier, and it changed colors from pink to blue and back. We also managed to get into a picture with some poor lady. Her husband lined her up for a shot, and then Antoine and I walked up and got on either side of her with our “peace signs” out. She was shocked/surprised/pleased at all once. I wish I could see the picture.
After about an hour we walked back to the train station. Underneath the station, a large group of young people were practicing breakdancing, and we watched that for a little while. Very interesting. There was even a family – mom, dad and kid breakdancing.
I finally got home around eleven o’clock, and I’m hoping to get some rest for my big hike tomorrow.
