Day 16 - Kobe and a last dinner (Osaka)

After a jam packed day yesterday, I was on a much slower pace today.

There were only two things on the schedule for today – a visit to the city of Kobe and then a late night dinner at 8pm.

So, knowing that, I took my sweet time to get out of bed this morning and finally became one with the land of the living at 10am

Off to Kobe we go!

But, first…

Stop and smell the roses

There is a park near Ben’s place that I’ve now walked through a couple of times at night time.

Because it was so dark out when I went through the park, it was just part of the pathway to get back to his place.

I didn’t realize that I had been passing by such amazing beauty each time.

Today we walked through the park in the day time and I was stunned to find it filled with so many different colored roses.

Yes, I had passed through a rose garden a few times and didn’t even realize what I had missed.

So, today, I stopped and smelled the roses.

Literally.

Now, one might say posting a video to my Instagram Stories about it was against the whole “stopping to smell the roses” mantra, but, hey, a tourist gotta do what a tourist gotta do.

Trust me, though, I did take time to just relax and take in all the beauty surrounding me.

Next we walked a bit further down to one of the tall buildings nearby to get a view of the city from the 40th floor.

Not a bad way to start the day.

Kobe steak in Kobe

Kobe is about 35km away east from Osaka and takes about 30 minutes to get there by train.

At 1pm we hopped on a train and soon we were pulling into the city.

Aside from a bit of sight seeing, there was only really one thing I wanted to do in Kobe.

I had to have Kobe steak in Kobe obviously!

I know, I know, I’m such a tourist.

I don’t care. I was gonna gave Kobe steak here.

The train station leads straight into the center of the city and right into dozens of dozens of restaurants.

We ended up at a place that had no tourists and a menu that offered a variety of options for lunch.

Obviously we ordered way too much food but, damn, it was all amazing.

Was it pricy? Yes.

Did I care? No, not really.

This is the kind of decadence I like.

We had waygu hamburger steaks, skirt steak, a5 top kalbi, beef tongue, and a waygu rare steak similar to a beef tartare.

The price? Just over 10,000 yen ($100).

We left with our bellies full and, for me, a sense of accomplishment.

Kobe steak in Kobe? Check! Cross it off the list.

Exploring Kobe

After that huge lunch we needed to work off some of that food so we walked through the city to see some of the sights.

The Ikuta Shrine and Forest were nearby so that was a good place to start.

By now it had become a bit chilly and the rain started to drizzle a little.

It was actually perfect weather for walking through the tiny forest next to the shrine.

Next we walked down to the waterfront.

Here there was a memorial to the great Kobe earthquake from 30 years ago where over 40,000 people died.

A profound display, to be sure, including the remains of a section of separated roadway.

Much more less profound was the “Be Kobe” sign nearby where all the tourists lined up to get their photo with.

Of course I’m also a tourist so I had to get my photo too.

Naturally.

I didn’t line up though. I just stood to the side, waited for them to stop posing with the sign, and took a selfie.

I’m telling you, I’ve got that stuff mastered by now.

At just after 4pm we were back on a train heading back to Osaka for the night.

Catching up with Yuka

Earlier today, Yuka, Ben’s ex-wife, had contact Ben about arranging a time to meet up and catch up.

We found a smidgen of time between our return back from Kobe and our 8pm dinner reservation.

We got back around 5:15 and we had an hour before we were meeting Yuka for coffee.

By the time we returned I was wiped out.

I have no idea why I was so tired but it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

Maybe it was all the walking. Maybe it was jetlag.

Either way, I lay down for a nap and was getting into deep sleep mode when Ben nudged me awake.

Time to get back out there.

We met up with Yuka at 6:30 and had a nice time sitting around the table in a little coffee shop talking about all sorts of things.

There was also some reminiscing about my previous trip here in 2014 where the three of us spent so much time together.

After just over an hour of sipping coffees and chatting, we parted ways again.

It was time for dinner…

Tapas and drinks

At 8:00 we met up with Ai, Ben’s friend who I met on my first night here, at a little tapas restaurant called Ciucate.

Yes, on my last night in Japan I was having Spanish tapas!

The place is near where Ben lives and he loves it there so that’s where we were having my last dinner.

The three of us sat on bar stools at the counter at it soon became apparent why he loved the place so much.

The atmosphere was great, the people were friendly, and the drinks and food were phenomenal.

As with lunch today, we just gorged ourselves.

Tapas are dangerous because before you know it, you’ve spent a fortune on multiple little dishes.

We ordered a 1L pitcher of white wine and, when that was done, we ordered a pitcher of sangria.

There were a couple of girls sitting next to us so we offered them some of our sangria and, in true Japanese form, they reciprocated and gave us a glass from their bottle of red.

So, here I was with three glasses of wine in my hands – white, red, and sangria.