Friday 17 April Matsue

Had a solid night's sleep and even though seas were a bit rough, no banging noises to keep me awake. we even got a lie in this morning until 7.30. Breakfast and then time in the cabin to do yesterday's blog. We arrived back in Japan into the Port of Sakaiminato. Early lunch up on deck 6 at the bistro where I had a thai chicken salad entree,followed by pizza. the salad was especially good. Time to go through the incoming Japanese immigration process again and then board our coach to Matsue. Lots of rice paddys,ginseng and peonies grown.

We visit Matsue castle which is one of the 12 original remaining castles. There were over 2000 castles, but feudal lords were eventually required to have only one castle and so they demolished,destroyed or abandoned them so that only 250 were remaining. World war II saw many of them bombed and eventually only 12 remained with only 5 now being on the heritage list. This is on that list. The main tower has survived fires, earthquakes and the anti feudal demolitions of the Meiji period.

We climb the 100 steps that are narrow, sluppery and down right dangerous to get to the top. And all this done without shoes that had to be removed at the entrance!

The view isnt spectacular but I easnt going to go through all that grief to not take photos. The 100 steps down was painfully slow. We then had a short wander through the surrounding grounds.

We then go for a short walk to the nearby history museum.It is designed to resemble a samurai residence. Not super interesting but had afew interesting items that actually had English translations for.

Back on the coach and head back to the ship.

We had a lovely surprise when we got back to our cabin. Had to go to the bar to get a wine to enjoy our canapes that were provided by Margie as a thankyou for being a Travelmarvel client. Not sure who else got them but it made us feel special.

Time now for drinks in the lounge.

Okay, so it was 2 drinks. Next was the briefing for tomorrow. Colleen and Joe *from Virginia) had seen us in the morning and asked us to have dinner with them, so we headed to the dining room and had a lovely meal and great company with them. They really are a lovely couple.

We have another early start to the morning so opt to head back to our cabins after dinner. Time to get the blog sorted and then lights out. It has been a good day and even though we had Kenji as our guide on the coach today, Margie's talk to him to get him to slow down and check that we understand, had clearly worked as he was much better today. Lights out and hopefully smooth seas and sound sleep.