The next day, we checked out of our hotel, and planned to go to the Herb Gardens. Straight after leaving the hotel, we went to a small bread shop to have a late-ish breakfast. It was interesting little shop in that the main shop was on the ground floor, but two floors up (via stairs) was a small little dining area for customers who want to eat their purchased bread and have juice or coffee also.
After breakfast, we stopped by the station and put our luggage in a locker again, before we headed off to the Herb Gardens. We used the rope way to get there, which is located near the Shin Kobe station, and more or less right next to the ANA Crown Plaza, so access to it is very convenient. After paying for tickets, we boarded the rope way, and enjoyed the trip and the view of Kobe.
Interestingly enough, the weather that day was shifting back and forth between rain and snow while we were out, but when we took the rope way, it was definitely snowing - which made it pretty damn cold to be hanging around outside while we were at the herb gardens. We had a look at the small museum that was there, explaining the history of how flowers were used to make perfumes, and even had samples to smell. We also went up to the upper levels to see a small hall there for plays/concerts and what not, but nothing was happening there that day, so it was pretty quiet there. However, we went outside from that area to take a look at the view outside. Apparently we were able to see Osaka from where we were, but even with the coin operated binoculars there to use, it was still pretty far away.
After that, we decided to take the path to walk down towards the greenhouse. As it was out of season, most of the flowers and plants were not in bloom, though we decided to take a look and those that were in the process of growing. We had a look at the signs, and found it a little amusing that despite some plants having more than one sign assigned to them, they had two different spellings for the plant - in katakana, surprisingly - such as the Roman Chamomile below:
We ended up at the greenhouse, and took a look around. We not only had some pancakes at the cafe that was there, but we also decided to take a foot bath that was located just outside of the greenhouse. It was great considering that it was cold, though it was a bit annoying that the way it was set up, you could only sit and face towards the greenhouse, as opposed to the city that was behind us.
Afterwards, we left the Herb Gardens, and made our way to Nankin-machi - Kobe's China-town. We walked around, and purchased almost everything we passed by. As we had eaten quite a bit after that, we decided to skip having dinner, and go straight to Kobe Tower - something we were planning to do the previous day, but ran out of time.
Despite having gone up Kobe Tower on a previous trip, the view was still amazing regardless. Considering the price (less than 1000 yen), you would be crazy not to go. I've only been to Kobe Tower at night, but I love going at night, just to see everything light up.
After spending some time at Kobe Tower, we finally decided to take the train back to Kyoto station. When we returned to Kyoto, it was still snowing surprisingly.
(Sorry it took a little while to get part 2 up)
No comments:
Post a Comment