An evening in Kobe

 Japan was a long-awaited trip on the family bucket list for ages. Needless to say when the baa-lamb suggested that we nip across to the land of the rising sun over Christmas and New Year's we 'hai-hai'ed in unison and hopped to it. Sadly Child 1  decided to properly 'adult' this break opting to swot for upcoming exams rather than make merry with the bankrollers. A minute of silence for the death of his innocence and we swiftly move on. 

Day 1  - Tokyo to Shin Kobe. 

The view enroute to Shin-Kobe 

We left the airport and caught a Shinkansen (the Japanese superfast train) to Shin-Kobe, the connection station for the fast trains to Kobe. 

Kobe drain covers

It was nearly 5 in the evening - we had, indeed spent a large part of

Lychee-Liquer makes everything fun-er.

our day travelling - however, with just a quick freshening-up sesh at the hotel room at Villa Fontane, we were ready to set out to catch the sunset in the cable car ride to the top of mount Rokko to the Nunobikki herb garden. However, little did we know that we'd be waylaid by the 'Happy Hour' at our hotel, where good cheer and even better 'spirits' overflowed  We were especially thrilled with the lychee liqueur which paired really well with cheese,freshly made salsa and 24-hour travel- weary bones. However, despite these dastardly plans to distract us, we finally headed out to the cable car stop, duly fortified by the lychee-goodness sloshing about our insides. 

Tha's all we could see from the cable car

I would have said more about the cable car ride had we taken the sunset ride- It's supposed to be beautiful watching the sun set over the city of Kobe. But it was too dark to really see anything when we arrived. We reached the top, slap bang in the middle of the Christmas market. As far as Christmas markets go, it wasn't bad, with the mandatory queues for ice creams and hot chocolate in the freezing cold. 

The Fragrance Museum stamp

But what I loved was the fragrance museum exhibits of ancient perfume bottles and equipment to extract natural oils. it also had over 80-plus natural aromas and all 3 of us had a thoroughly enjoyable evening trying to discern our favourite fragrances. (mine was surprisingly a very mundane sandalwood- a throwback to comforting childhood memories, I suppose)

View from atop mount Rokko

Since it was bitterly cold outside, there was hot-cheery chocolate to be had, and since we were with baa-lamb and Child 2, ice cream (honeycomb flavour, in case anybody was interested). Both, on their own, good, but combined, creating a dessert party in your mouth. 

On our return, we stopped at 7-11 (the only thing that was still open) to stock up on a bento meal an fried chicken before we headed back to our room. I would be remiss here not to mention our room, which was rather small in proportion, but big in function! Toilets with automatic functions (including the famed Japanee heated seats), to headrests with built-in light controls and alarm clocks. Very comfortable, very clean and top marks for service. We were heading out at the crack of dawn to the southern end of Japan - to Yufiyin, so we needed to catch out z's. 

Note to self for the rest of the trip: Must try the huge assortment of desserts and ramen flavours on display at the supermarkets.