Diamond Princess Day 2
Day 2 another Pig Out Day,after a huge breakfast I decided to do some photo catch up in the Cabin whilst Ann attended a Caligraphy lesson..After lunch and more food we had a leisurely afternoon wandering around this massive boat and because we have a day & night at Sea day evening wear is a must and ye I had to wear a tie and suit complete either white shirt and red tie!! and my jewelry consisted os a pink (my favourite colour) and a cheaply jeweled Earing.Night time we had a quick session watching karaoke and went off to the massive theatre to view the live showing “Do you Want to Dance” which was very good and played to a packed house then on to the Happy Hour Skywalker pub and a lovely chat with the happy go lucky DJ Robert (incidently wears the same style of glasses as my grandson who is also a very popular DJ in the North of England and also the father of my great granson who we will meet very soon for the first time) After our visit we went on to the Explorers Lounge (10.15pm start) to watch a monologue Japanese Rakugo (story telling) and was narrated by a Scouse lady who has been living in Japan for 25 yrs (not my cup of tea tho) During the evening most people we replendant wearing their best & finest,but, to seethe Japanes men and women wearing their national costumes was fantastic.Japanese children were also dressed in very fashionable clothing and very polite too !!! My neck is starting to strengthen up with all the bowing Ive done to the locals and I am actually enjoying it ! Annie braved it and had THREE cocktails ( a record) and was OK Tomorrow we dock at Nagasaki (sadly famous by being the first place an Atom Bomb was dropped 70 yrs ago
On The Boat at Last
Day ONE on the Diamond Princess
After getting a lovely smooth Taxi ride from our excellent hotel the Marriot Court Yard to the Yokohama Harbour we got on board very quickly and were introduced to our Cabin L10 R735 that has an outdoor veranda decked with 2 lounges,footrests and a table making the sea views strikingly good we then went off to the various cafes and restaurants pigging out !!! Oh and to add to the gluttony I discovered the eat as many as you can Ice Cream Parlour and had 3 yes 3 large Ice creams! ahhh sweet bliss !! Lunch time we watched the breaking of the Saki Barrel by the Ships Captain and we were invited to sample the Japanese Favourite but its not for me,one critic compared the taste to that of Camel Pee ( the thought of that person drinking camel pee and knowing the difference made me think “Yeuck” ) We wondered around the boat on a seek and find mission and was surprised at the size of this boat (twice the size of the Volendam trip thru the China Seas last year) We did a sing a long as the boat left the harbour with lots of spectators there to wish us Bon Voyage (One eager lad was shouting “have a great trip” whilst waving a huge Union Jack !! Night time and a movie was shown on the very outdoor screen as we ventured into the Fusion Bar for a bit of Karaoke (as usual they don’t have the songs I sing) some singers were really good with an elderly Japanese lady singing beautifully ( I should have video,d it) NINE o clock and we went to the Skywalkers Disco (buy one get one for a dollar!)We got chatting to the DJ who came and sat with us for a while talking about this n that,nice young fella named Robert.Sadly the Happy Hour was very quiet (first night travel weariness for some?) Having had 6 bottles of Stella on top of half a bottle of Chilean White wine I was feeling quite merry as was Annie with her 2 for 1 Strawberry Blossom Cocktail!! Eventually finding or balconied room we retired very happy people…
Day THREE and what a very busy Day
Up at 8 got ready for our bus pick up at 9 and OFF we went to mount Fuji a 2/3 hr drive into the mountains and when we got to the near summit cloud was beginning to form but not before we got a good glimpse of Fuji Peak,sadly NO snow as it is Summers end and probably the only time of the year the Mountain is laid bare! After Annie almost killing me with step climbing we headed to Gotemba for avery late lunch that was actually laid out for us before we arrived!!The soup (cold) bowl had 2 handles on it SO i used them to drink my soup while eveyone else used a spoon !! The stting was beautiful and peaceful making up for the poor food selection !! Then we headed of to Lake Ashi for a cruise on the brilliantly designed pirate ship ending up at Odawaro Station to catch the Shinkansen commonly known as the Bullet rain which reached 300kms + an Hour !!!
The lady guide was very interesting and showed us how to do Origami (Japanese pastime) which wee were very successful in making! On arriving at Tokyo Station via train we had to make our own way back to the Hotel using various underground systems,Looking back it was a very funny experience and had great trouble getting our looks of insanity and terrible communiction between Japanes & English languages BUT Surprise,Surprise we did it !! Taxi is booked for our trip tomorrow to catch our cruise ship Diamond Princess SO fingers crossed and this blog will be on hold for at leat 9 days because I refuse to pay exhorbitant ship Internet fees,,,,stay tuned we WILL be back !
Japanese Gardens are among the best I have seen.trees fashioned the same as Bonzai s are fantastic and in a lot of village house,front gardens are full of healthy,growing rice! One particular block of flats actually looked very cold and seem part of a futuristic gloomy nature.Weird and wonderful garden ornaments spotted included a full sized (folly?) Windmill
Day 2 and I,m already Knackered!
TOKYO TOWER with Geoff n Annie
We caught our bus at exactly 9.53 am as they stipulated and off we went for what I thought would be a relaxing morning BUT walking featured a LOT ! I,m sure Annie is secretly trying to do me in !!! Went for a ride to the top of Tokyo Tower that is now used for tourism and FM Radio stations,the views are magnificent and of course lots of photo,s were taken
Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 metres (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. Built in 1958, the tower’s main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower since its opening. FootTown, a four-story building located directly under the tower, houses museums, restaurants and shops. Departing from there, guests can visit two observation decks. The two-story Main Observatory is located at 150 metres (490 ft), while the smaller Special Observatory reaches a height of 249.6 metres (819 ft). The tower acts as a support structure for an antenna. Originally intended for television broadcasting, radio antennas were installed in 1961, but the tower is now used to broadcast signals for Japanese media outlets such as NHK, TBS and Fuji TV. Japan’s planned digital television transition by July 2011 was problematic, however; Tokyo Tower’s height, 332.9 m (1,092 ft) was not high enough to adequately support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting to the area. A taller digital broadcasting tower, known as Tokyo Skytree, was completed on February 29, 2012. Taken from Wikopedia
Next up was a walk around Shinto temple and surrounding parks with trees that are formed by traditional Bonzai methods.The weather is getting rather warm & sticky now and after the 4 hour tour that would do till night time when Im sure more adventures are to come…
We walked miles (again) around a Shinto Temple and was intrigued by the Saki Casks (see picyure explaining them) and the wine barrells,all have been drunk over the years.Night time we trudged more and more and more around the night life of Tokyo and had dinner in a Manga/Anime eatery and was entertained by ladies dressed in Anime costumes (photo s not allowed) we have had a lonf tiring day BUT tomorrow is the highlight with atrip to Mt Fuji on the Bullet train
A few distorted pics of the grub and the Dancer secretly taken by Agent Annie who has also bought brother Brian a luvli gift he wont forget !!!
Japan Day One
Here we are in Downtown Ginza a “flashy” suburb of Tokyo and we have already sampled the very large electrical stores with both drooling and awe inspired by the massive collection of any thing electrical we were in bed by 8pm after sampling the massive train underground and didn,t manage to get lost !! Only problem being NO lift or moving stairs but a massive amount of bloody stairs ( I am not best pleased with our travel agent who assured me there aren,t any !) The food pictures are actually 3 D models of food available at this particular cafe.We are off in the morning for a city tour and Tower viewing exercise and NO doubt more bloody walking !! TV is crap here fortunately I have movies with us .Japan is very (sadly) influenced by America but is also steeped in a cultural way that epitomises Japan.Shops are full of Manga cards that teenagers eem to rave about here and still the odd local or 2 wear face masks ( for what reason I dont know as this place is exceptionally clean) Currently it is humid and a Thunder Storm is raging as it is the end of the wet season.. BTW Sumo wrestling is VERY popular here even tho the fighting is over in minutes !! It is shown “live” daily on TV and is very traditional…more tomorrow
And Away we Go >>>>
After a few lovely days with various families in Perth we are finally underway First stop a 4 hour stop over in one of my favourite Airports ..Changi in Singapore,there is always plenty to do in there and Annie literally walked me for miles whilst there!!A big attraction is the HUGE Electronic roundabout board consisting of large screens about 3 storys high and circular in construction with lots of strobeing lights and the aim is for the public to pose in front of cameras around this structure and “paste” selfies of themselves on the roundabout for all to view.Not being afraid of challenges like this our photograph is firmly esconced within this mighty structure !! With an hour or so left till boarding for Japan,out came the Laptop and we watched THREE episodes of the latest Corrie St!!Our flight with Qantasfrom Perth was great as we had THREE seats between me n Annie to spread ourselves on. When boarding the flight to Japan on JAL Airlines (not overly impressed with them) we had our first encounter with Japanese people and their amazing manners ( there were around 6 European passengers) Boarding was a breeze as Japanese travelers stayed in their seats until THEIR seat numbers were called as opposed to Europeans who all want to get on a plane at the same time ! Flight food was very salty,the plane was older than Annie and the confined seat spaces I,m sure were in place are just for Japanese passengers !! Flight attendants were luvli and very gracious.Our transport collected us at the busy Hanida Airport, he was elderly but what a gentleman as are the hotel staff who booked us in 5 hours early.We have done abit of food shopping and tried the local Japanese eatery where and Egg n Bacon toasie with Salad & Iced Coffee cost around $ 11 for thw 2 of us with service !! It has to be said the shower was most welcome and the toilet that has a hot & cold bum wash is an experience in itself !! Annie is currently studying the local underground service that we will try out very soon !! More on the next Blog
Pictured is of the first Japanese tree I have ever seen..the building with the metal Tower is opp our Hotel..A Police airport interior bike and others as described ealier
Last Day in Perth
After a fleeting visits to see families our short 4 day Western Australian visit is almost over and we set of towards Japan with a 4 hor stay at Changi Airport (which is also my favourite passing thru Airport ever!) The photographs should start flooding in by then.Its been great staying with my daughter and husband Paul catching up with the grankids,Annie has also been busy catching up with her family and new grandaughter Dejanna.Time has come to recommence our journey onwards.Car is returned to base tomorrow and 6 am we start our travels towards our Cruise…Lots more to come with photo,s once we get Japanese WiFi sorted out Tonight tho we are dining out our Australian money has been exchanged for Yen,Singaporean dollar,Euro,s and my beloved Pound Sterling aching to be spent on Annie.s shopping spree,s !!
Day ONE First Leg
Taxi to our local Hervey Bay Airport and after only being delayed firstly by 30 mins due to Brisbane airflow and a further 15 minutes due a swarm of BATS flying over the plane! (which is in the air soon after propelled by two huge propellors Ashort stay at Brisbane and we are off Perth..we were in bed by 12.30am and on the Saturday we had welcome evening mean and perhaps a little too much to drink ! Ann met up with all her siblings and new grandaughter Dejanna (those are stories for Ann to tell !!)
Sunday and we opted to go to the Joondaloop Stores and Annie has gone out with her daughters @ grandaughter Dejana
Here we go (almost) OUR BIG TOURING HOLIDAY
FOUR sleeps to take off after 4 days visiting family and friends in Perth we set of for Japan & the CourtyardMarriot Ginza Hotel for a few days and will include trips to Mount FUJI and a ride on the fantastic Bullet Train ! Annie is trying to get me to Manga dress up and do a Karaoke Booth !! dunno about that we will see. THEN we make our way to Yokohama on the Diamond Princess Cruiser for a spin around Japan and a very quick visit to Korea (MERS allowing!)
Next move will take us to London to meet up with son Michael and 2 weeks in the Capital taking in shows.. Sunday Afternoon (Kinks Story) Let it Be ( Beatles Story) Harry Potter Studios,Buckingham Palace The BBC Radio & TV Studio,s lots of Pubs ( hopefully with Karaoke!) and probably a lot more (We are staying at West Ham Football Ground Hotel
NEXT quick flight to the Emerald Isle of Ireland and a car hire will take us to places (after a few days in Dublin) Kilrane,Castlemartyr Midleton,Glengarriff Cork,Dingle (not Liverpool !Limerick ( there was a woman fromLimerick Oh dear I’ll have to stop these awful Limericks!) Salthill,BallinaCarrick on Shannon (It has to be said Annie has ordered FULL Irish Breakfast EVERY morning! 
THEN Ferry cross the Irish Sea to Holyhead …then hire car will take us across country via Derbyshire and York to Scarborough on onto Blackpool where I will meet up with some of my very large family and NO doubt copious amounts of alcohol (bugga the Heart & Diabetes diseases !) BLACPOOL my home town where lots of memories are mine forever and we will take in an International One Dayer between England & Australia a visit to the set of Coronation St (Annies making me go here!) A Tour around one of Blackpools iconic entertainment venues the Opera House & Winter Gardens ,finally a visit (all being well) to see me Great Granson Oscar !!BUT wait ! there’s more after saying our last goodbyes its out of Heathrow onto
Singapore for a few days (nothing organised there yet) and then HOME after around SIXTY FOUR days full on and making Billy Bunter (for those in the know) look very Slim !!! Blog will be updated regularly when we get under way (WIFI allowing)
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 