Toba - Saturday 24th
Due to Cecille and John being incorrectly booked on a Japanese speaking excursion to Mikimoto Island we decided to cancel all three of our excursions and have a day wandering the town. This is the first time the Diamond Princess has been to Toba so we were greeted by a water display from the tugs. Went off shore and walked 20minutes to a department store that sold delicacies and small items,. It was going to be further to walk to the town than originally thought so John got a cab and we were taken to Ise. ownship. This store was a large building and all shops merged in to each other.. The taxi cost was was 9000 Yen return
At night we went to a specialty restaurant on the ship called Sabatinis for Italian, a great night and fabulous waiting staff.
Takamatsu on 25th
Berthed at 9.00am used on shore internet had a coffee in the lounge and our excursion left at 11.20 for a Geisha lunch and the Ritsurin Gardens
The lunch was 11 courses, some you cooked yourself. Japanese's style of food is very different, raw fish etc. which is a great experience but not really to my liking.
The Ritsurin Gardens were all trees, ponds and huge goldfish.
Back on board at 4.00pm and we needed to clear customs. Didn't sail until 5.30 as there was some difficulty in locating passengers to do their clearances. All announcements on board are made in English and Japanese usually but by the time we were overdue to sail the announcements for these persons who had not cleared customs were being announced in a variety of languages.
Today we are sailing to Busan and will dock there tomorrow morning - Tuesday 27th