Kobe

We hopped over to Kobe mostly to eat beef!  Kobe beef in Kobe.  I was going to sugercoat this post with some city culture but really, we just came to eat.  We made an effort to get the know a city a bit.  Looked up a garden in the map and it turned out to a  residential building named something something garden!  At that point we gave up and went to find food. We followed a lonely planet recommendation for teppanyaki.

In one word it was delicious    Though that doesn't properly convey how good this was!

The chef started with browning some garlic, then frying some vegetables...eggplant, dikon, bean (1 green bean each!), and onions.  Unlike back home there was no entertainment as he cooked.  It was a professional chef doing his job.  At the end he gave us a card each, we didn't really know what to do with it!  Then came the beef...

 It was so well marbled and cooked to perfection with just a bit of salt and pepper...it just melted in our mouths.  I finally understand what it means when they say something melts in your mouth!  It was funny watching him salt the meat...he was so precise for a moment I thought he was going to count the salt grains!

Dessert was included in the set menu we picked.  A super ripe melon, some sort of cheesecake (not like home, very light and fluffy) and a scoop of mango sorbet and vanilla ice cream.  As delicious all this was it also cost us a pretty penny!  But kobe beef in kobe, we figure once in a lifetime and went all out.

For dinner we went to a bar called Polo dog, supposed to have the best burger and owned by a Canadian.  It was ok, nothing fantastic, I am not sure if it was the beef we just had so nothing else compares.  But one thing good was the garlic fries.  We think they topped french fries with garlic butter, so really how could you loose?!  Either way delicious!  

It was amazing how much pride our waiter took not only on his work but also on the food.  We told him the fries were delicious and he preened as if this was his own recipe and he made it himself!  This is one of those time that we really wish they'd accept tips but it seems like a heartfelt compliment is even better.

Osaka cont...

Next day visited Osaka castle.  It was cool but I was pretty castled out at this point!  Michelle was fully excited as she got to try on a samurai outfit!

After much walking in the sun, we finally found a creperie at lunch time!

I ordered a savoury crepe and Michelle and I were going to share a sweet one.  I am not sure how the orders work here, it seems like everything goes in at once and comes out in whatever order.  They also don't wait to make sure both people have food before delivering, it's delivered as it comes out.  Both good and bad...good in that the food is warm bad in that someone is sitting there watching the other person eat.  In this particular case I got the sweet crepe first, then coffee and finally the savoury!  Well whatever the order everything was delicious!!!

We wondered out again this time looking for the Umeda sky building...two 40 story building connected with bridges and the upper most floor connected by escalators crossing the big atrium space.  The top is a rooftop observatory...take the elevator to the 35th floor, escalator to the 39th floor then steps to the roof.

Inside the escalator

Looking in from the rooftop

The views of Osaka was quite amazing...

On our way out we grabbed a Denmark cheese cake...we expected cheese cake.  What we got was cheese on top of angel food like cake slice.  It was ok, just not what we expected.  We were supposed to warm it up so the cheese drips but still I think end of the day it's a slice of cheese on a piece of cake!!!

Osaka

I was originally going to post this under the title "Osaka sucked."   But really I think our original impressions were coloured by the horrible hotel/hostel we booked!  Honestly when will we ever learn that you get what you pay for...example when we find a hotel that is half price compared to everything else in the city, we should have expected a crappy place.  It was a shabby hotel in a shabby area.  As we approach the subway station I already wanted to get the hell out and stepping into the hotel did not help.  Generally if the place is clean the washrooms are good I can cope.  This was a struggle.  I went into full princess mode till Michelle agreed we'll book a night in Kobe and leave Osaka a day early.

Once we got into the heart of Osaka it was quite nice and very modern.  We started out in the restaurant shopping area where you can buy anything restaurant related.  We mostly window shopped kept telling ourselves we'll find this in Tokyo.

Osaka is known for Takoyaki.  Basically octopus balls.   

I was not a fan.  It was little doughy, not really enough octopus.

Next we walked to the American area.  It was super loud with music blaring, people yelling.  So very unJapanese!

Osaka skyline was filled with funky shaped buildings...

This was a very neon area of Osaka...

I think this was a subway exit of some sort right outside H&M...we never saw it empty!

Beyonce seems to be promoting H&M big time...

One of the random thing we saw was this Crystal Benze dealership.  This displayed the gold and silver version...

I am not sure the picture properly shows the extravagance...the car body and even rims covered in crystals, seats fur lined!

Random elaborate restaurant fronts.

Kanazawa...

Kanazawa sits on the sea of japan bordered by the alps.  We trekked our way there as it was supposed to be good for samurai and geisha stuff as well as beautiful gardens.  Our first afternoon was quite rainy so we trekked to one of the malls for food as well as to just walk around.   We found a cinema with Iron Man 3 playing in english!  The cinema looked brand new, fully comfy seats and it was practically a private showing as only 4 other people showed up.  I quite like the way their tickets work you buy a ticket for a specific seat.  There is no need to show up early for a good seat!

The next morning was lovely and bright.  We bought a day bus pass and made our way to Omicho market.  It's known for it's fresh fruits and vegetable and seafood.  OMG the seafood.

Every other stall was some sort of seafood

Next we made our way to the castle.  The wall construction was really cool.  First bamboo lattice then 6 layer of mud (and straw mixed I think) 

We walked to Kenroukuen, one of Japan's three most beautiful landscape gardens.  This used to be the outer garden of Kanazawa castle.  There are number of ponds, streams, waterfall and bridges, of course super well maintained.

The water fountain may look a bit piddly but this is a natural fountain due to the level of two rivers and the height depending on the river water levels.

The Kanazawa hop on/off loop bus.

Random fish drying on a light post.

This was the ninja temple...it really had nothing to do with ninjas, it's called that due to all the hidden door/floors etc in the place.  It has something like 7 floors and 28 rooms but it seem to have 3 floors.  When it was built they were restricted to 4 floors max.  Way inside one of the rooms has 4 tatame "rugs", 4 is the number of death rarely used in anything in Japan.  But this particular room was basically a suicide room, if the general/shogun lost the battle he goes there to kill himself.

The tour was in full japanese but they gave us a folder that covers the basics of the talk.

We meandered around after and stumbled across this european looking area that had a

French chocolate shop!!!  Unfortunately we had just had a snack and didn't indulge.  Though the place was run by Japanese people, they were pretty snooty...Michelle asked that they fill up her water bottle and they said sure, but just a little.  Made no sense as they just had to open the tap.  Sheesh!

This is the Kanazawa bus station entry.  They've won some sort of award for the design.

This welcome sign is by mini water fountains!  Besides welcome it also changes to show the time, date and I assume welcome in japanese.

We went to a asian cafe for dinner, I had a chicken dish that came in this cute box...