Shimitzu, Japan

Thursday, April 11, 2019      Shimitzu, Japan

This morning Captain Alex announced excitedly around 8:00am that you could see Mt Fuji off the front bow of the ship. 

It was an amazing sight!

                                                 Clouds floated in  around its base.

                     

                   Larry and I quickly went to the front of the ship and there it was. WOW! 

Snow capped mountain top and clouds covering the base. It was much larger than I had expected to be. 12,388 feet, the highest elevation in Japan.

The captain told us later that he had been here numerous times, but never was able to see the mountain because of the cloud cover. He was ESTATIC!

We were greeted by the huge white dog on the dock....he was the port mascot and always came down to greet the ships that came into port. What  an incredible animal!

We hopped on the local shuttle bus to go to the local bus/train station. 

Getting off the bus we ran into Erica, our Mexican friend who toured Busan, South Korea with us. In our mixed Spanish, she asked to join us.

 Our next stop was with the information center at the bus/train station to find the bus number to Nihondaira, one of the most scenic parks in the area to view the Izu Peninsula, the Southern Alps and Suruga Bay. 

The gentleman manning the center spoke very little English, but he dialed up a translator on the computer who told us that we were at the wrong train station. Her directions sounded very time consuming so we decided to find a taxi. After negotiating with a few drivers, one took us to Nihondaira about a half an hour out of town. 

                          The drive was a gorgeous curvy road with blooming cherry trees all along it.

We climbed a tall hill with spectacular views of the bay and surrounding mountains. 70% of Japan is covered in mountains volcanoes, forest, woodlands (mostly beech) and from this spot you could see how every inch of the low lands was developed from the sea right up to the edge of the mountains.

   Our ship was spotted from the top....The Celebrity Millennium sat majestically in the harbor below.

We walked down to the cable car ride above a gorge that took us to the Kunozan Toshogu Shrine. 

                                                                    Views from the cable car

                                                                   Inside the cable car

                                          Larry made friends with the cable car attendant.

                                                     From there we explored the temple area.

                 

Prayers written on little strips of paper.

One of the oldest  shrines in Japan.

Strawberry farm followed the shoreline below.

                                                                       500 year old tree

                                                                      A bamboo forest

                  Oh my...look at the tourist buses that had arrived while we were exploring.

We returned to the parking lot happy to find the taxi driver waiting for us.

               A nice drive took us back to the city where we walked down by the marina

 and into the S Plus Dream Plaza. 5:30pm we walked back to the ship in time to watch the firework sail away. Tonight we are headed to Tokyo for another day of adventure.