More Adventuring in Kobe

Hi, friend. Sorry for the extended absence. I've been a bit flat because literally all I've done since I posted the last piece was edit the hundreds of photos from Kobe, so that I'd be able to write the next one. But lord, it takes hours and hours to touch up photos - even quickly and with only minimal enhancement. It's so exhausting. The blog just stagnated for a month. From now on, I'm not going to bother retouching my photos, because I'm taking more photos than I have time to edit them all. I'd rather keep writing and moving forward instead. 

Anyway, let's quickly recount, because I've actually done lots of cool stuff since Kobe that I want to tell you about, too. I need to play catch up - I've got a backlog to work through. 

Day Two in Kobe was a lazy Sunday. Rosanna wasn't feeling tip-top, so we took it easy. After a sleep in and a leisurely cuppa, we ventured out into the day to make the most of what was left of it. Neither of us had tried Kobe's famous beef situation, so that was our top priority. We caught the train back into the Sannomiya area and made a beeline for Kobe Steakland, a reasonably priced steakhouse that many of the other ALTs had recommended to Ro. 

If anyone's interested in visiting, from Sannomiya Station, you should pop out on Ikuta Road. Turn left and head towards the intersection under the train line. Turn left again (there's a ramen place tucked on the corner under the bridge) and you should spot Maccas up on the right. That means you're heading in the right direction. Just past Maccas is a narrow side street on the left with big signs for Steakland, which you'd be hard pressed to miss, to be honest. It's about a third of the way up the alley on the left, and you have to take a tiny elevator up to the 6th floor. Be warned: because it's reasonably priced, Steakland is atrociously busy. The elevator drops you into a tiny foyer, which, oddly enough, is decorated with plush carpet, warm downlights and a bunch of cheap-looking Renaissance-era paintings in glass cases (for some reason). It even has a Grecian bust statue, complete with a generous dusting of glitter. Very strange.

You have to add your name to a terrifyingly long list, and then stand (or, if you're lucky enough to snag one of the few seats, sit) in the foyer and wait until they call your name. We arrived at about 1:30pm and the foyer was absolutely jammed. Uncomfortably claustrophobic. At one point, a family tried to squeeze a pram through, which was just about the most idiotic idea anyone could have had - though I remain impressed that they somehow managed to shove the pram into the tissue-box-sized elevator. 

Steakland has two dining sessions: lunch and dinner. The lunch sets are significantly cheaper than the dinner sets, which is probably why every man, his three children and five dogs tries to get in for the lunch session. Anyway, lunch finishes at 2pm. If you get your name on the list before 2pm, however, they honour the time you arrived and allow to you order from the lunch menu, which was a lucky bonus. We'd made our peace with having to pay dinner prices in order to have the experience at all, so that was a very pleasant surprise. 

 We both ordered the basic beef lunch set, which comes to about $40AUD and includes a cut of steak, seasoned and cooked in front of you on a hot place (teppanyaki style), a pile of delicious fried garlic slices (also cooked on the plate), seasoned bean shoots, a serving of rice, some miso soup, a small side salad, pickled ginger as a control, and a complimentary drink. It gets a thumbs up of approval from me. The steak was delicious and it was overall a fun and memorable experience. I'd definitely go back. Great value, if you can get past the psychotic waiting game at the start. I think you can make reservations, so if crowds and lines aren't your thing, that's a more dignified option.

After the Steakland Experience, we strolled around for a while and did a bit more shopping (what's up, Lush?). We stopped by Baskin Robbins (which they call '31 Aisu' over here) to try their Halloween Specials - just about the cutest ice cream you'll probably consume in your lifetime. Mine was called the "Okashi Sundae" (which seems to translate to "strange, funny, weird" in English), with Pumpkin Pie and Cotton Candy flavours. Ro had the "Obake Sundae" ("goblin", "ghost", "monster", etc) with Midnight Mint (choc-mint flavour) and a flavour called "Monster something"... Anyway, it was neon green. They came with little swirls of whipped cream, sprinkles and ghoul-shaped cookies and chocolates. So unreasonably adorable.

Familiar, home comfort bubbly bath things! 😍

LUSH getting all festive and spoopy.

This smells like pure joy.

I seriously have no chill whenever ice cream is involved. It's getting embarrassing.

Then we visited Ikuta Jinja, a truly stunning bright red Shinto shrine in the heart of the city. Seriously, you take an exit out of JR Sannoymiya Station, follow Ikuta Road north for maybe three minutes, and suddenly, peeking out from behind the glossy grey and glass buildings is the ancient traditional shrine. It's pretty spectacular. It's thought that the shrine is one of the oldest in Japan -  it was built at the beginning of the 3rd century - and is one of three magnificent shrines that are dedicated to some of Japan's most magnanimous deities. Ikuta Jinja is said to enshrine the kami (Japanese god) named Wakaruhime. 

I was told that it was destroyed during the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 and had to be rebuilt, which makes it the perfect symbol of Kobe's amazing resilience and determination in the wake of such a terrible natural disaster (while we're on the subject, you should dedicate some time to visiting the Earthquake Museum; it's powerful and devastating, and very important to learn about everything that has happened in this beautiful city, and what the people have endured and survived). I don't know much more about the shrine than that, but I wouldn't want to spoil the history lesson for you anyway! You definitely should visit it if you visit Kobe. It's a wonderful place. 

We called it early and went back to Ro's apartment, where we curled up on her couch, watched the sometimes awful, always delightful live-action adaptation of Death Note - complete with necessary drinking game - then started a re-watch of the anime because we were in a Death Notey mood, and ate the last of the kibidango (a very famous kind of souvenir/omiyage from Okayama; it's basically a soft, chewy mochi (sweet made from rice) filled with thick, peachy syrup and it's bloody delicious) before bed. 

The last day in Kobe was even sleepier. Ro was still not feeling one hundred per cent, so we had another leisurely-paced morning before heading to the station. After iced coffee and special Halloween-themed donuts at Mister Donut, and a lengthy debate about the etymological history of "pepper" vs "capsicum", we parted ways. I headed back to Shin-Kobe with the intention of heading straight home, but spotted a sign for the Nunobiki Herb Gardens and made the split-second decision to visit. It was just after lunch, lovely weather, and possibly my last opportunity to do something fun in Kobe for ages - I couldn't resist. 

It's a short ride in a shiny red gondola up Mount Rokko to the top station, which - unexpectedly - is designed like a classic European barn and reminded me of when I lived in Zwiesel. There was a lot of general merriment going on around the top station; there was a surprise German beer festival happening, with food trucks selling pretzels and German craft beers, and lots of people relaxing under tables with umbrellas, enjoying an accordion duet performance by two adorable women in berets. The atmosphere was brilliant. 

Gold-leaf-coated soft serve, anyone?

So, you start your adventure at the Nunobiki Herb Gardens at the top station, and you work your way down a winding path that follows the slope of the mountain down to the middle station, with lots of kitchen gardens, herb gardens, flower patches, gazebos and glasshouses you can stop at along the way. It's a peaceful, beautiful place, quite a lot like the National Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda, but with more cement paving and approximately zero mountain ash trees. No lakes or ponds, either. Okay, so actually perhaps not so similar after all... But the feel of the gardens was similar. Brace yourself for an onslaught of flower photos. I refuse to apologise. I like flowers.

Anyway, so after what may or may not have been over two hours (refusing to confirm) kneeling on the ground taking hundreds of different angled shots of the same flowers, I pit-stopped at a cute little stand and tried lavender flavoured soft-serve. Did smell like flowers. Did not taste disgusting. Would recommend if you happen to be there - or anywhere that sells floral-flavoured ice cream. 

And then it was back to Shin-Kobe on the gondola, and I was whisked home on the next shinkansen out. I was a very tired girl that evening. I'd had to literally battle my way through the omiyage (souvenir) shop at the station, and it had involved completely unable to move in practically any direction due to the insane number of businessmen frantically picking up souvenirs for their families/colleagues/mistresses/pets, and intensely long and uncomfortable waits in ridiculous queues. It was the kind of experience you immediately regret committing to, but fighting your way out again would be just as difficult, so you stick it out and end up with a stress headache instead. It was generally just a bad time all around.

In more pleasant news, I recently binge-watched "Anne with an E" on Netflix, which is incredible and anyone who even slightly enjoyed the Megan Follows adaptation, or loved the original novel, should definitely watch it. It's stunning and beautiful and I'm dying for season two to be released. There are few things more exasperating than waiting for a new season on Netflix.

Anyway! Hope you're well. More to come soon (actually soon this time). x