This is such an iconic sh0t of rail travel in Japan, love it!!We saw these smoking boxes all over, usually jam-packed lolHerHere comes our train to Tokyo!Train beers acquired!Train snacks acquired! This malodorous dried squid turned out to have been a mistake….The Tohoku Shinkansen line between Sendai and Tokyo is currently the fastest train corridor in all of Japan, we were at times cruising along at 320kph!!Made it to Tokyo in nothing flat, it’s as busy as always
The plan was for a fairly leisurely lunch in Tokyo Station, where there are literally hundreds of restaurants, then a much longer train ride to Kobe! We found a pretty serious eel place luckily.
See?They had a whole book about how seriously they take the cooking of eelsIt was eely good!Goodbye eel place!!Back to the bullet trains! I guess south of Tokyo we’re on the white trains? In any case, we’re off to Kobe!A few random shots of Tokyo flashing byThe trains are so smooth you can just have your beer sitting hereAnd we eventually made it!Made it to our hotel, where we were ensconced on the seventh floor as usual lolFirst order of business was dinner! Can you guess the cuisine? …… nope, it’s French!Check this out… see that small white tablet on the far left? We thought it might be a minty palette cleanser or something like that… then a waiter pours some water onto it, and it expands into your dinner napkin!We think various peppers??Woohoo more champagne!Suddenly all kinds of stuff started appearing (that’s caviar on the right!)And uni, in foam of uni, in a formerly living uni creatureThis was the squid course, it was amazing–Matt said it was his favorite of the entire meal!This was the oyster course lolThe glassware was honestly pretty coolMore bread, more wine….Pigeon a la Green Bay PackersThe rest of the pigeon, it was absolutely fantasticThis was the amusing cheese course lol but I have to say it was terrific: blue cheese based, tons of great flavorsThe tea courseAnd the start of dessertMore dessert….Finally, the end of dessert and sadly the meal as wellThat’s the place! On the right, you can see the chef has come out to see us off, they do that constantly in Japan, it’s really nice! We wave back, the chef gives a little bow and sees us safely on our wayNow we’re out & about, check out the crazy crosswalks on the rightNighttime KobeWe wandered down towards the waterfrontWe found some hotel with amazing viewsThis hotel actually lolIf you look hard, you can see the boys ‘way back there at the table closest to the actual bar… this was a beautiful spot!Having enjoyed our Japanese after-dinner whiskeys we are heading back to the new hotelI’m kind of tired after this long travel day!
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