chochajin: (cute food: オニギリ (o_o'))
chochajin ([personal profile] chochajin) wrote2010-02-14 12:35 pm

[Japan Travel]: Kobe - Day 1 (part 2)

Hello and
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO EVERYBODY!!!


As promised here's part 2 of my first day in Kobe.

Kobe - Day 1 - part 2 (January 2nd, 2010):



On my way to the last few "Western style houses" that were included in my pass.



Small Western style chapel.



And other interesting things. Uhm, yepp time check: noon!
That means not even half the day was over yet (and that's pretty much the reason why I had to split that day into 2 entries )



I can't remember if the following photos are from the 北野外国人倶楽部 or the 山手八番館, sorry (^-^')



This statue was quite .. uhm ... yeah ... I think you know what I mean XD



Old-fashioned Western style kitchen.



And I found something German again XD ("Hetze Hirschjagd" ~ "stag-hunting")



Music corner



That was in the former Chinese consulate! That's easy to regonize XD
I'm in love with that vase (*_*)



I really liked the Chinese Consulate as it was not as familiar as all the Western style houses XD





And FINALLY I found the "German House!!!" - pure coincidence!!!!!
The thing is that it doesn't have the name "German House" and thus I wasn't able to find it anywhere XDDDDDD
Instead it's called the "Weathercock House" (風見鶏の館).



As you can read here it was built by a German trader as his personal residence. Of course that was reason enough for me to pay extra money to enter the house (was not included in my pass).



That's Thomas with his wife and daughter. I think the daughter is really cute (^-^)



Here's another picture of the daughter wearing a kimono (*_*)v



That's like the doll collection of the daughter (O______________________O'') ....



And that's her a "few" years later!



It was difficult to get a good photo from the outside. If you ask me that was one of the best / most interesting houses from the outside! Really beautiful (and I'm not saying this because I'm German XD Really!! )



Canadian lunch!!! It was really yummie :)



Although there were still more houses to see I decided to move on. On my way I saw yet another Catholic church.



Very close to Shin-Kobe station there's a ropeway. The mountain there is not that high, so it doesn't take that long and there's also a herb garden, so I decided to go there and wait until it gets dark to get some nice night photos.
On my way to the ropeway I noticed this sign. Warining us about how dangerous the wild boars are and that we shouldn't get close to them or feed them XDDDDD



And up I go ;P



There was also quite a big and nice waterfall (also a sightseeing spot) but that would have required quite a long walk and as it was cold and I didn't have that much time, I just took a photo from above while sitting in the ropeway car XD



So cute!!! Welcome 2010 (*_*)v



And the view from up there was very nice! I still could see some momiji!!! Try to imagine how awesome that would be in autumn (or spring)!





The glass house you could see before was actually a greenhouse. Small, but very cute!



There was also a café where you could drink different herbal or Japanese teas and they also had delicious cake!
I decided to wait there until it would get dark. Unfortunately they already closed at 5pm x___X
I got an "all you can drink in 1 hr" ticket and enjoyed some different tea flavors. It was very nice and relaxing and I enjoyed the nice view over Kobe ^-^



After the café closed I went back into the greenhouse. The whole thingie plus the ropeway would stop at 6pm, but I wanted to wait for the sunset (at around 5:30pm-ish) and the greenhouse was WARM!!!! XD







FINALLY! Sunset time!!!! Not really great photos, but better than nothing XD





I went back to the ropeway station as the view from up there was the best anyway and waited for it to get really dark in order to take some night photos before leaving. I waited inside a building as it was really windy and cold outside.
Then, I noticed a German "harmonipan / Drehorgel" (~ street organ).

The night shots from up there weren't really that good, so I won't post any.




Last destination of the day was: Kobe's Harborland / Meriken Park!
It's really beautiful down there. So many things to see and to do. "Mosaic" reminded me a little bit of Kagoshima's "Dolphin Port"





It was already late and when all the shops at Harborland etc. finally closed I decided to eat.
And what do you have to eat when in Kobe??? YESH! Of course KOBE BEEF!!!!
Just ignore the price, you HAVE TO DO IT!!! At least that's what I told myself XD ... As you can see in the menu it would have been so much cheaper if I hadn't been alone ;o; .....
I almost paid 6000yen (~60$) - that was the most expensive meal I ever had! XD



This was raw and had to be eaten raw. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo soft and super yummie (*___*)v
Can't even describe it!



This had to be grilled. It was definitely worth the money, but Kobe Beef is really fat and thus you get full quite easily ...



*lol* XD



In the end .. these were my leftovers ;o; ... too bad, but I really couldn't eat anymore!!!! And that usually never happens to me!!!!
But it was really uper-delicious! Would eat it again if it wasn't soooo expensive x_X



Full, but happy I was rolling over to Meriken Park XD I never went there during daytime. It's really nice and interesting there, it was just SUPER difficult to take night photos there (^-^')>



Kobe Tower - a symbol of Kobe.



.... under construction .... (I was really not lucky at all this time, huh??? Construction works everywhere! *sigh*)



And last but not least ;P




Hope you enjoyed it♪
Kobe day 2 will follow soon (*__*)v (with a lot of shrine and temple visits (Ikuta!!!! shrine), a lot of walking and awesome night shots)

See you again ですぅぅ!☆彡ヾ(=・ω・=)o♪

[identity profile] vanityfair00.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful pictures! I don't think I'll make it to Kobe before I go back to America so I'm glad I can look at your photos. :-)

[identity profile] moldypotatochip.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Looks like an amazing time! The buildings are lovely and the yakiniku looks so delicious @___@ I've never had raw beef but I sure do love yakiniku.

[identity profile] evilblueberry.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
the kobe beef looks really good but I could never eat it raw lol I always have my meat fully cooked cause Im always afraid I might get sick.

The vase is very beautiful too.

[identity profile] ame-no-uta.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)
haha XD ich hab auch im ryu-en mein kobe beef gegessen XDDD
allerdings mittags, da wars billiger, hab glaub ich so... 3000 oder 3500 yen fürs mittags lunch gezahlt :D
war total lecker (*_*)

leider bin ich abends nicht nochmal zurück zum hafen, sieht toll aus bei nacht(*O*)

[identity profile] prismatic-star.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm yummy food! I just woke up now and it's great seeing yummy food pictures so early in the morning ^^

[identity profile] amvn.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Aaah I was just waiting too see that Kobe beef ^____^ It looks REALLY delicious, you know it'll taste amazing when it looks that marbled!!! :3
Else-chan looks so cute in the photo where she's wearing a kimono ^-^ I'm still so amazed at how pretty Kobe really is, especially from the photos you took from your mountain trip. That sunset is absolutely marvelous 0_0

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/__manga__/ 2010-02-14 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
gong xi fat choi... happy chinese new year chochajin :)

[identity profile] kitsune-no-ame.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
KOBE BEEF *_____* You're my hero.
One day I'll try it too...

[identity profile] kamishey.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
omg im thinking maybe ill go there!
im planing a trip in may for 15 days and in the plans we have is tokyo and maybe travel to osaka so maybe we can make a quick trip to kobe... 'cus that kobe beef looks sooo good!!!!!!!!

in other notes... wild boars?!!! O_O..........

[identity profile] andou-.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh man, ich muss unbedingt nach Kôbe.
Mehr muss ich da net sagen *O* <3

Simply amazing.

[identity profile] asahifirsa.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG! Das ist aber viel Kobe Beef! Ich hatte so zwei Grillstäbchen mit Hida Beef für 1000 Yen oder so, aber die waren auch so super lecker and weich und hmmmmm. Das nächste Mal vielleicht... das sag ich aber immer :)

Ich glaub das soll "Letzte Hirschjagd" heißen?

[identity profile] angelbott.livejournal.com 2010-02-14 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy V-day to you as well [And Chinese New Year] ^^
Yeah I have few dolls collection it's really can break easily but need take care. xD

Cool places

Yummy meats! xD

[identity profile] wing-goddessxxx.livejournal.com 2010-02-21 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the Kobe pics! Nice to learn/see something new ^^ One of my Japanese friends is from Kobe, but he doesn't like talking about it because he thinks it's boring. (he wants to be/act American instead -__- lol)

[identity profile] mtassarion.livejournal.com 2010-02-26 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
i've always wondered what kobe beef is like... some people say it's really not that nice at all.. but then there are some who, like you, say it's delicious.