Turns out, we were correct. Shortly after getting back to our room, we had a delivery of two long stemmed red roses along with one three pack of Seattle's Best Chocolate Bars. Usually, we each got a three pack, but it is probably better we did not. Way too many calories. Also dropped off was a lovely card and a box of See's truffles, compliments of our travel agent. A very nice gesture. Messages from home were also great…….thanks.
The weather has remained about the same as we head towards our next stop in Japan….Kagoshima, a new port for us. Even though the predicted temperature was in the forties, we are certain that with the wind chill factor, it was much lower than that. We still went outside to get in several walks during the day, but found it necessary to wear the heavy jackets….sometimes with the hood up. Besides one lady that was sitting in a teak lounge knitting, we were among a half dozen folks that went outside there today. We don't expect much of a change for tomorrow.
Anyway, the city of Kagoshima is located on the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. Originally a castle town in the 14th century, Kagoshima was ruled by the Shimadzu clan for 29 generations. Early contact with the outside world was through Kagoshima. The first to arrive were the Chinese, followed by the western world. Christianity come to this area when St. Francis Xavier landed in 1549.
Kagoshima has an unusual vista with an active volcano in its backdrop. Sakura-jima is only a few miles away. Still sending up steam and minor eruptions, Sakura-jima has an elevation of 3365 feet and is 31 miles around the crater. In 1914, it was only an island in the bay. But now it connects to the Osumi Peninsula due to massive lava flows.
Geothermal heat provides hot springs, the second largest in the country. If we recall correctly, there are bigger hot springs in the Northern island, where you can find the snow monkeys. We had done some research on this special breed of macaques that like to bath in the hot springs, and were going to try to see them on a side trip. However, since we were not going to Tokyo, getting there was a challenge in the time we had available. Also, the park where they are located is also a popular ski resort, and we would have been dealing with extreme conditions to see the troupe. So we changed our plans, and decided on the China overland instead.
So we plan on staying in the city, and perhaps finding our way to Shinto shrines, museums, and the ever-present shopping. The good news is that we read in tomorrow's Daily Navigator there will be a shuttle to downtown.
There are five tours offered through shore excursions tomorrow. They range from 4 ½ to 7 hours. Short hour tours will go to Lake Ikeda, a crater lake facing Mt.Kaimon at 3000 feet. It is sometimes called little Mt. Fuji. Ibusuki Hot Springs are there to take heated sand baths. Yes, sand baths where you are buried up to your neck with warm, soothing sand (swimsuit and robe-covered). That is followed with a hot Japanese bath, which is a good thing.
One excursion goes to Chiran Samuri Houses and a Peace Museum. It is an area where the back round of kamikaze pilots of WWII trained to crash their planes into Allied Forces.
Another trip goes to Sakurajima Island and a garden tour. The longest tour is the best of Kagoshima with a lunch. An interesting stop will be made at a "shochu" brewery, where the local clear liquor is made.
The last tour offered came a few days ago, when they advertised an easy activity with a sight-seeing tour of Castle ruins and downtown with one bathroom stop. It was 2 hours for 100. It is a good option for those with walking problems, or using scooters and walkers.
As many times as we tried, we could not find Barbara H's talk on Kagoshima. The programing has her mixed with DVD sales and shore excursion info. We paid a visit to Henk (a suggestion from Barbara herself) and asked why she could not have her own channel. Not making any promises, he said he would check into it, although, he said there were not enough channels to do that. Later in the afternoon, we found one of her talks, but it was on Nagasaki for February 16th. Today's lecture was on Incheon, Korea. It is nice to do these talks ahead of time, but we would like to be able to watch the current port lecture right up to the day before we get there. Or does that make too much sense?
We had lunch with Barb again today, sharing our exploits from two days in Osaka. She was surprised that there was a Hard Rock Café in the city, and said she would have gone there if she had known about it. Too bad we did not see her in the morning, since we had just researched it then. Maybe next time, if the ship ever comes back here.
For a change, we got to watch the performance of the dancers and singers at 5pm today. They seem to be the same kids that were on the Tales of the South Pacific last fall. One of the singers has a voice that carries from the Queen's Lounge all the way to the Ocean Bar on deck five. It was well attended with the early-seating guests and some of us late-goers. Due to eating late on Osaka's first evening, we missed the local performance of Ikura Circus. We were told that parts of it were OK. We also missed Mariusz, the electric cello player. His show was held at 9:30pm, but our dinner ended too late to make it on time.
By the way, there were new passengers taken onboard yesterday, and only they had to attend the mandatory emergency muster drill. Works for us. And besides, with the all onboard by 10:30pm, most folks would not be on the ship anyway.
We had a warning that the internet connection on the ship may be disrupted due to regional limitations in Japan. However, we found the connection trouble-free and almost fast. Since WIFI was free everywhere in the city, we guessed that most everyone was not using the ship's internet. That made it better for us.
We received some invitations for the upcoming visit from the VIP's in Seattle. One is an invite to a special President's Club Dinner in the King's Room with these VIP's and the Captain, Hotel Director, and their wives. That will take place on February 21st. The other invitation was a general one for a Mariner's cocktail reception in the Queen's Lounge. But it will be on February 24th, and we will not be here.
This evening was "gala" for Valentine's Day. And we had company, Peter W, the Purser, who joined us. We have had the pleasure of knowing him for many years, and he is a special friend of Barb's. We all had a fine time during the meal, which included nice caviar, lobster, and veal chops for entrees. One dessert was too pretty to eat……a chocolate cup with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. Our friend Leslie had stopped by with two bags of Valentine's chocolates (Dove, no less). They were shared with everyone at the table as well as our kind waiters. Serving ten of us takes time, so Peter was quite happy that our dinner ran past 10pm. That way he escaped dancing duties at the ball in the Queen's Lounge. Besides that, we heard that there was going to be a chocolate fountain with dipped strawberries served there. Oh boy, what a mess that could be.
The seas and winds have gotten rougher late this afternoon. Sure hope we have a good day in Kagoshima tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
