Kuniko had to go in to work this morning, and so I decided to get up early with her and take the trip into Kobe. While she was at work I went hiking on the eastern side of mount Rokko, a place I have never hiked before.
I started at Rokko Michi station, and headed due north up the hillside. I passed lots of interesting neighborhoods, and it was fun to see a side of Kobe that I haven’t seen before. There was a women’s college up there, and some really interesting apartments built into the side of a hill. I took plenty of pictures, too. Some of them are here.
I hiked to the cable car station, and then took that to the top and enjoyed walking around the area. There were a lot of roads and lots of houses – it was like a small town up there. My first stop was a farm and dairy that I have been wanting to visit for a long time. Unfortunately, the farm was more of a petting zoo, and it was a big tourist attraction. To get to the dairy and the cheese you had to pay admission to the petting zoo, and I ended up doing my shopping at a tourist shop just outside the farm.
I managed to get some cheese there, although their selection was surprisingly slim. I did drink a glass of fresh milk, which was quite good. I also got a chance to buy a local beer, and later in the evening when I drank it it went down quite well. Very good, but a little too expensive.
I made the long descent down the hill into Kobe, and the downhill trek took almost an hour. It would have taken a lot longer going up that way – I’m glad I took the cable car. Back down in Kobe I bought a few games for the Nintendo, and that was quite an experience. I knew about a used game shop in Sannomiya, but I haven’t actually been inside. I went today thinking I might save some money, and it turned out that there were games there, but not the games that I was looking for. The games all had anime pictures of girls in short skirts and there were just guys buying them. Yikes – I got out of there quick.
Finally I picked up what I needed, and met up with Kuniko. We met up for some lunch, and then did a little shopping around the area. Finally we came on home and we’ve been resting our weary feet. Kuniko cooked a really good dinner – a garlic, shrimp and rice dish with miso soup. I think the rest of the evening will be more of the same, and then tomorrow we’ll try to enjoy our last day of this long vacation.
We are close to getting our tickets booked for Europe this August. It is turning out to be a real adventure. More on that later…
