April 5 - Kochi, Japan

 I went to hear the comedian last night (forgot his name) and he was OK - a few good laughs, a few sort of amusing anecdotes, but I left a few minutes before the end.  I slept pretty well and woke up at almost 6:30, which is a record for this trip so far.  

Today's tour was to the Ryugado Caves, which have some stalactites dating back to the Jurassic Age.  Along the way, we passed lots of rice paddies.        

These were taken through the bus window, which must have had a tint to it that I didn't see.

And the cherry blossoms were in full bloom - actually, our guide, Kyoshi, said today was supposed to be the peak day.  They were just beginning to fall already

The caves were advertised as having 800 steps, which turned out to be no exaggeration.  Fortunately, you get to the top entrance via an escalator.  The walk through is very narrow and partially lit.  You have to walk single file always looking at where you step, as the walkways don't always have clearly marked edges (OSHA would have a field day here) and handrails are not always there.  The narrowest passage is about 2 feet wide and the lowest clearance is just over 3 feet.  Michael had to get on his knees to get through that one.  There was a lot of climbing and descending for over 1/2 mile.  You really had to watch your feet and your head because there were real head-banger rocks everywhere. It was also mentioned that flash photography was forbidden in certain "rooms" as it disturbs the bats.  Say what, now??  I don't remember anything about bats when I signed us up for this.  But luckily, I mostly forgot about them while negotiating the walk and never saw or heard any, so all was well.  I did wonder what would happen if someone had a heart attack or something and had to be taken out.  I don't know how EMTs would have gotten to the person or gotten a stretcher out.  Best not to think about it too long.  There were some very beautiful parts and I really enjoyed the whole experience.  Kyoshi said there were around 400+ steps inside and then around 300+ to get back down to the parking area.  I didn't count, but I believe him.

Even here we saw interesting manhole covers.

Our greeting upon arrival.  They were gone by the time we left the ship an hour or so later.

But then they were there when we sailed this afternoon.  They had a woman playing the accordion along with a drummer and an electric ukelele, or something that looked like that.  

And these dancers were quite enthusiastic

We had 2 teams again for Trivia and the team I was on beat the team Michael was on by 1 point.  More bragging rights.

Tonight was the Block Party and we met some of our neighbors.  Always a fun event.  Then off to dinner for 7 of us at Compass Rose.  Phil/Carol and Sue/Jerry had other plans.