Another Fun Weekend

After so much luck pursuing old quests the week before, last week we decided to explore another area we somehow never quite get to: Harborland. This is one of the main tourist attractions in Kobe and we have meant to go there multiple times. The problem is that there are so many interesting things between our house and Harborland, and we usually think we are going to walk there. We almost always get distracted on the way. (I think this was how we stumbled on the jewelry shop where I bought my new wedding ring, for example).

Last weekend we were determined to actually make it all the way to Harborland. There was even a festival happening there to give us stronger motivation. We did get side-tracked for a few minutes when we found the Big and Tall shop that Russell had been looking for (named "Grand Back"). It turns out that even in Japan, you might not need to be AS big as Tall, but you still have to be bigger than Russell to get tall pants that fit. No love for the skinny 2 meter men. Sorry Russell. Note the plaque in the picture that, poetically enough, states that the Big and Tall shop used to be the U.S. consulate building.

After our small side trip, I am please to say we made it to Harborland. We did not explore it all, but we found the festival (local artists were given shipping containers as art spaces and allowed to do whatever they wanted to them. The public could walk through the art spaces for a mere $35. We decided to pass. We are just too cheap.

Among other discoveries at Harborland, we figured out where the pink pirate ship docks. It turns out there are two pirate ships that sail tourists around the bay. The pink one must be the only one that sails past my school, because I hadn't ever seen the classier pirate ship. We also found a shopping center with cute small shops and poked around for the evening. I found some cheap (and cute!) shoes and we picked out some Fall inspired jams from a preserves shop (sweet potato and pumpkin/orange). Next, we headed across the street to the more standard style mall with the huge Christmas display and color-changing tree on display. Everyone is gearing up for Christmas even though Christmas is an adopted holiday. I will have to post later with more details about the differences between Western Christmas and Japanese Christmas - they are significant from what I hear. In any case, after watching the Christmas tree change colors from red all the way through the spectrum to Purple, Russell dubbed it the "Bling Cone."

We finished the evening with a lively discussion at a delicious Indian restaurant and then took the train home. It was a lovely excursion.