We spent two days in Yokohama - a really pretty port city just south of Tokyo. The first day we spent wandering around the streets of Yokohama, admiring the beautiful fall foliage and checking out the baseball stadium (home to the Yokohama Bay Stars), Chinatown (the largest one in Japan) and the Yamashita Park right on the water bordering Osanbashi Pier, where our ship was docked. In the afternoon we walked through the Cosmo World area on the other side of Osanbashi Pier - it's like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk but much bigger.
According to some folks on the ship, Yokohama has really reinvented itself and the harbor front is much nicer than 30 years ago. The city is preparing for next year when they will celebrate 150 years.
The second day we hopped onto the local train with Brooke and Ian and ventured out to the Ramen Museum near Shin-Yokohama station in the 'burbs. It was interesting albeit a bit disappointing. It didn't cost much to get into the museum and the place was set-up as a re-creation of old Japan. If you've been to Las Vegas, picture the painted ceilings and replica buildings inside casinos that make you feel as if you are walking through the streets of another place (in the case, early-1900s Japan). It was fun and we enjoyed the atmosphere. The ramen, on the other hand, was too pricey to taste (there were 8 mini-restaurants each selling samples for 900-1500 yen which is roughly $9-$15). Since we'd already planned to search out a particular restaurant back in Yokohama for lunch, we weren't really interested in spending that much on tastings. We opted to browse the gift shop and the noodle factory, the latter of which was closed unfortunately.
The train back to Yokohama was uneventful but Brooke and Ian were entertaining. We all had lunch at a place run by a woman from Mexico who married a Japanese man. It was our first taste of Mexican food since leaving California and a welcome treat. Afterwards we wandered the shopping district a bit more before returning to the ship to wade through immigration and prepare for sailing.
Life has been quiet at sea, for the most part. It's been nice to re-group and fall into some familiar routines again. The last month was a bit of whirlwind of ports and sights, all wonderful. I've managed to run and/or bike every morning this past week, something I haven't been doing at all for a long time. Have also been helping one of the LLCs with preparations for the Ambassador's Ball on December 10th (I've just been cutting invitations). And yesterday was the Students of Service Auction (silent, raffle and live) for charity. The ship community voted to split the money between three charities that we've come into contact with on our voyage: Operation Hunger (South Africa), Agent Orange Orphanage (Viet Nam) and Victims of Acid Violence (Cambodia). All told, the three auctions raised over $16,000!!! So exciting!
Have to go. Hope everyone is well.
Thanks, Woody, for your letter(s) in Yokohama!!
Really looking forward to seeing you in a few days, Elyse!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Much love,
heather ;)
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