Japan.It's Bloomin marvellous.

[drron]

It is spectacular-

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[drron]

A famous tree that is sad to resemble a ship-

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But sometimes nature does a great job in the beauty stakes-

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The last pics from the Golden Pavilion-

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Then it was back in the bus for lunch.Two groups went to a French restaurant whilst we were heading for an Italian one.As we crossed the river the hanami parties were in full swing-

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Turns out our restaurant was near Maruyama Park.Being a Sunday the crowds were very large-

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Those 2 just stood there posing for everyone.

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At the restaurant there was a wedding reception going on.The bride and groom entered to drumming and then it was the wedding photos.We were all encouraged to take photos after a little discussion with both families-

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[drron]

We both felt the food at lunch was very good.Italian with a hint of Japanese.Some in the group though thought it should have been more western.Oh dear.

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So we started with white asparagus with caviar,abalone and sea urchin-fabulous.Then pasta with bamboo shoots.

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Then a lovely piece of salmon on risotto followed by a beautiful small morsel of beef.

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Dessert was beautifully presented but green tea icecream is not our favourite flavour.
Back to the bus and this was likely to be a geiko with an apprentice-maiko.

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This next photo sums up the trip in a lot of ways.The bad.We are following the blue lollipop.But the good.I took this shot of the young women in their kimonos and realised one was special.She is with her sister with the camera and 4 cousins.They were stopping taking photos of each other so when I caught up as usual I offered to take a photo of them all.Very grateful and as I had murdered Japanese they were happy to use their English hence finding out their story.These interactions with the locals are priceless.

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So back to the bus stop-

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[drron]

A major traffic jam getting out of Kyoto but OK after that.Finally arrived at the Caledonian Sky and boarded.A bit haphazard the service but soon shown to our cabin by our room attendant.We were in a deluxe balcony suite chosen because it had a balcony and a bath.Here are the pictures-

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The last is the walk in wardrobe.The bathroom was good with a nice sized bath.All in all we were pleased with the cabin though the low ceilings and aircon that remained on the cold side no matter what temperature it was set at or how many times you were told it was fixed were of concern.Whilst unpacking this ship went by-

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The lifeboat drill was standard.Internet wasn't worth it at 12 GBP per 100 minutes for a very slow service so we went internet free.Was annoying that everything was in GBP although it is 50% owned by APT and this was a charter by another APT outfit Botanica.Also supposed to be all inclusive but only wine,beer etc with lunch and dinner and predinner or after dinner drinks + minibar are charged-even soft drinks.Also when getting a drink there was no pricelist,no description of wine other than chardy,sav blanc when ordering in the lounge as well as signing a blank chit.

So it came to dinner.The dining room was a disappointment.Staf were disorganised-sometimes it was left to main course before you were offered drinks.Service generally slow.Meals were OK but certainly nothing special.A few times offered Japanese dishes-they shouldn't have bothered.So pics of the first night's dinner-

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Vegetable stack with parmesan crisp,pork and a citrus tart.All quite average.
Cruise proper starts next.

 

[drron]

Monday and we had cruised overnight to Uno Ko.Now I had envisaged we come here when in Kyoto to take a ferry to 1 or 2 of the Inland Sea islands for the trienniale art festival they have here so this was a bonus-our tour information had us coming to Okayama-but that is inland and this the port.We awoke to fog and rain.Docked at 0815 and fortunately the weather started improving-

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On to the bus and an hour later we reached Koraku-en Gardens.One of the top 3 gardens in Japan-

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[drron]

Okayama castle overlooks the garden-

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[drron]

I've always liked Japanese gardens.Even without the spring colours the design,shapes and contours fascinate me.So be prepared for lots of photos-

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They had cranes here.Unfortunately caged-

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I was surprised how much into cycads the Japanese were.Apparently collected from Okinawa-

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Married couples were out being photographed with the cherry blossoms as background.This couple astounded me.Rather than being upset at intruders they actually invited anyone who wanted a photo taken with them to come and their photographer used the "extra"guests cameras to take pictures.mind blowing-

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[drron]

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Yes a tea plantation.Part of our tour here was to get a free green tea and a free white peach ice cream-that certainly was good and really tasted like a peach.Mrsdrron also bought some more tasty peach sweets.

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[drron]

So the last of the Korak-uen gardens.Yet another bride-

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It was then back on the bus to Kurashiki and lunch.Close to the hotel where we were to have lunch was this coffee shop.Not the liveliest place I presume-

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[drron]

So to lunch-

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A nice bento box lunch but pretty westernised with the meat being roast beef on potato salad.Despite that several comments were heard on how it was hoped we did not have to put up with too much of this Japanese rubbish.Oh my.
After lunch it was a walk around the canal and the restored warehouses and cotton mills.Plus of course cherry blossom and photo shoots.But first for thse cat lovers this place seemed to have a soft spot for them-

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Once again unbelievable how courteous the Japanese are allowing strangers to crash their photo shoot-

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The Art Gallery.Apparently one of the mill owners had a thing for Spanish art-

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