Day 22 - 3 Aug - Takamatsu, Japan

We were at our berth by 8am and there was no announcement that we were cleared to leave the ship. A jazz band played to welcome us. So we ate a leisurely breakfast and headed off the ship to get a paper map and suggestions about things to visit.  

Parenthetically I'll comment that for this segment there have been no port talks by Lance and that makes it hard to preplan one's activities unless you are taking a HAL shore excursion. Fortunately we have internet access so we can do some research on our own.

We then planned our day to see the Takamatsu castle and the Ritsurin garden along with sampling Udon soup which this region is known for. The castle was about 1/2 mile from the port and it was interesting to see. It had a modest entry fee.

To get to the Ritsurin Garden, we used the public bus which left from outside the castle grounds and it cost 150yen or $1.50 each. The garden is one of the top gardens in Japan and we spent several hours there wandering around.

After touring the garden we found Udon noodles across the street and that became our lunch. Did I mention that it was blazing hot? 90°f plus. When lunch was finished we decided to stroll back to the ship in a the heat. While the walk was easy, the heat was oppressive. We stopped for a break at a covered street before continuing on.

Back on the ship, I showered to cool off while Angela went swimming. I sat in the Crow's Nest sipping on a cold drink while waiting for the ship to depart. That came and went and we backed out rotating clockwise in the turning basin assisted by two tugs. And we headed out among the Japanese islands. The Captain made a disembarkation announcement after we left announcing a mandatory passenger emergency drill for the next day for the Seattle and San Francisco boarding passengers and that we would be passing under the Akashi Kaikyō bridge at 9:15. After the evening show by Tomono Kagamura, a Japanese classical pianist living in London we've seen before on other sailings, we watched the Maasdam sail under this very long span Bridge. Joe Holliday wrapped up our evening with his travel story about riding a bullet train. But after that we went to the 10:30pm feeding and chatted with Ann's son John.

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