Paulette Mitchell, a renowned cook book author,and Mario, a wonderfully talented guitarist/singer based in Las Vegas, joined us for a lovely dinner the night before arriving in Kobe.

Our first view of Japan at dawn in a cold damp light fog.

Paulette along with Michael from the chef staff giving a demonstration involving the preparation of a lemon grass soup and a tofu entree.

Our arrival.

A wonderful welcome.

Donna trying to get as many short people around her as possible so she will look taller. Here some of the locals making fun of her height.

I finally made Donna try to use my camera. She's a natural. Donna didn't think it would be long before she'd be as good as than Ansel Adams. I suggested she will need a minimum of several more days of practice.

Donna checking out the local fare.

Kobe is a clean bustling city.

We met a wonderful young gal named Tomomi in the shoe dept. of one of the larger dept. stores. She saw Donna's eyes glaze over when Donna learned they had her shoe size (4 1/2) in almost every model. Donna was hyperventilating and I think Tomomi beside being a mechanical engineer with a masters degree must have had some knowledge of first aid. She gave Donna a paper bag to breath into. We became fast friends and she translated for us during an emergency shoe buying episode.

When we returned to the ship to change for dinner there was a young troupe of Japanese ladies entertaining the guests.

We had made plans with Tomomi to meet her in town for dinner. Here Donna, Loren and Judy are showing off their train riding skills in the local RR station.

The restaurant Tomomi picked was not one we would have easily stumbled on. The entrance had no signs in english. it was down a steep flight of stairs and at the end of a long hall . It wound up being a lovely local place obviously popular with twenty-something's.

There was no one in the restaurant who spoke english. Here is the menu again not a word in english. Without Tomomi we would have had a tough time of it.

Even though the place was populated by many groups of young people sitting at western style tables, there were a few traditional tables on the floor offering a more romantic setting for some.

We were seated at a western style table and gave our request to Tomomi for large quantities of saki and beer. We then ordered small portions of many different local preparations.

Loren does not drink so we had to make a lot of jokes up so he would laugh and look as goofy as we did.

After nearly a dozen dishes we called it quits.

We said our "oragatous" to the staff and those who helped us with the picture taking.

Here we are in the train station on the way back to the pier. It was raining but the train stopped within 100 feet of the ship's terminal. Pretty convenient!!