This morning was laundry day. We were up by 7:30(when does that ever happen in Boston?). Went directly to the neighborhood laundromat and once the machines were running Jason was off buy yogurts while I guarded the stuff. We were done in an hour and after putting everything back off to Shin-Osaka for a train to Kobe. of course by the time we got a Starbucks and a curry donut.
It is only a 13 minute ride to Kobe so we didn't have time to relax, but it is a nice short hop. I had read that right outside the station was a interesting short hike. At the very helpful tourist information office we got a map and a valuable code for wifi access.
After wandering around the station and a detour to take pictures of a large fly like insect, we walked under the concrete mass of the station where a stream unceremoniously headed out to the sea. On the other side the grade steeply climbed up to the hills over Kobe. The little road lead up to a smaller path that bridged over the stream. The first waterfall was a wonderful surprise. Then steps steeply climbed up the hill to get us even with the cliff drop at the top of the waterfall. At the top of the second waterfall was a little Shop with vending machines that served lunch. we just got a cold drink and continued up.
At the top of our wandering we were rewarded with a idyllic reservoir bounded by mountains. I loved the way the little bridge curved over the spillway for the reservoir at the Crest of the stream. We climbed up another set of stairs to where there was a little shinto shrine. The heat was sweltering, but the spot beautiful and quiet.
On our way down, we found a resting spot that we didn't notice before that had tremendous views of Kobe. The hike down took much less time and the hour round trip hike ended up being almost three hours with many picture taking breaks.
We were very sweaty and hot and still had about an hour walk to the harbor where we planned to eat at the Okonomiyaki restaurant we had eaten before. Let's just say the walk to the harbor was not as pleasant as it could have been given that we were starving and hot. Kobe is a pretty city and the harbor is very scenic with some cool ferry buildings. ,
We were very exhausted by the time we got to the hotel.
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