We woke up, packed our things and left our backpacks at the hotel as we started our adventure today.  We went to breakfast at the hotel and there were a lot of things I actually thought were too bitter, but still overall very good! 

We walked to the cable car since it gets crowded early and made our way up the mountain by cable car (2 of them actually). The man running the cable car wanted to stuff us into an already stuffed cable car so we refused.  He looked upset but I still think it wouldn’t be physically possible. Also the look of dread with the already uncomfortable people said it all.  How‽ 

But we went on the next one and it was just as stuffed.  The views were amazing, though with the mist rolling through the islands as we take the vista.  

We made our way back down, had some free fried treats that were really good!  Reminded me of funnel cake but with red bean paste. 

Hilary had to shop for a new purse since the zipper broke so she picked up a new purse, but we have yet to find a garbage to throw out the old one.  So now we have A garbage purse!  Whenever we throw something out we exclaim “garbage purse!”

And then we made our way to lunch at a place that has huge oysters!  I think they are known for oysters here.  They grill these oysters as big as my fist! 

We had fried, boiled and grilled oysters!

We wandered through town shops some more, found a few electronic portable fans. Still need to find two more!  And went back to our hotel and sat at the lounge patio under the misters and sipped our free Pepsis.  

Took a ferry and some trains to get to the town of Kobe!  Took another cable car above the city to a lovely view of the city.  Everything atop this area was very German.  Tudor style shops, German beer, sausages, etc.  nice to chill out here for a bit. 

Took a few trains to get to downtown Kobe to make our reservation for a place where they have officially licensed Kobe beef. Our chef was hysterical. He showed us his collection of money from around the world. Kept asking for 18yo friends so he could get married.  

The Kobe sirloin was so tender that it melted in our mouths. We didn’t have to even chew it.  Just amazing. We paired it with some sautéed garlic he made in front of us and some salt and it was perfection.  The grill he was using was 60 years old and sparkled like it was new.  The recipe for the sauce was 60 years old and he was third generation.  

Best meal of the trip and possibly our lives!