Leaving Saturday for Los Angeles. Sunday morning non stop to Tokyo. I’ll update when I get there and have some amazing things planned.

Heading to LA in a few minutes. Tokyo tomorrow.

1
United Polaris Lounge

Sitting in Polaris lounge waiting for flight to board. \240Flight time is 11 hrs and 45 minutes.

My home for next 11 hrs 45 minutes

Arrived in Tokyo. This is an upgraded room

Today I’m doing a walking tour of Tokyo to get my bearings. Home is 14 hours behind Tokyo so you may see my postings on a day ahead of where you are.

Ok first try at Japanese cold tea. All I can say is I threw it away. \240I am really liking the heated toilet seats. Looking into one when I get home. 🤣

Also found out I got upgrade on ship. DV1 to PV1. For 26 day cruise it will be nice.

Heading out on tour shortly so watch for pictures.

Shibuya 3,000 cross this intersection daily. It’s the Times Square of Tokyo

Japanese egg omelette

Tsukiji Fish Market

Tsukiji outdoor market. Over 400 food vendors and a lot of people

I ate lunch with chopsticks

So exhausted from tour came back and took nap then remembered that Heath had told me that you can get fried chicken at convenience stores. Off I went to 7-11 for salty chicken. I have to admit that it was pretty darn good.

Another long day tomorrow.

Ok I realized yesterday was not a walking tour. It was a running tour. We did 9,000+ steps in 2 hours and that included lunch.

Today is a private tour to Hakone. \240I should be able to control the pace. \240Still can’t get on Japan time so hopefully it won’t affect me too much.

Legend has it that if you eat smoked eggs for 7 days, you will add 7 years to your life. I don’t even like regular eggs. I wasn’t about to try these.

I did find an interesting thing for my quilt friends. In Hakone there is a Quilt Museum call Kathymom Quilt Museum. Did not have time to stop.

Mt Fuji

Pirate ship I sailed on on Lake Hakone

Other type of boats

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Hakone Open Air Museum

Smoked eggs- the color comes from the sulfur water they are boiled in.

This morning was interesting. I had to return my wifi router before noon via post office. The hotel circled where it was and I thought streets had vehicles and traffic lights. Apparently I was wrong. An alley here is considered a street and if you turned down an alley, there was this small building that said Post Office. Hopefully my wifi router gets to where it needs to go.

I’m heading to Yokohama to catch the cruise ship then no worries for 26 days. \240I can’t imagine the people flying in just for cruise. Jet lag kicked my butt for 2 days. \240I’m also glad to be leaving the only English tv station in hotel which is CNN.

Apparently I have found out I’m allergic to either Cherry Laurel trees or something in the air.

Omg Jon, you would have had a hard time with the ride to the port. It had me questioning my life choices a few times. Let’s just say I’m glad to be on solid ground.

There are more Orientals on this cruise than I’ve ever seen. I guess because this cruise started in Hong Kong and then to Japan. The Captain was saying that there is a lady that has been on since Hong Kong that is 102. He said that she is a doctor and goes dancing every night in Torshavan.

First thing I did once onboard

Today I’m doing Panoramic Tokyo tour. I will get to visit places that Tuesday I could not do due to jet lag.

Yokohama port

Under the clock you can see the roller coaster. They also have a Ferris wheel at the port

Tokyo Tower modeled after Eiffel Tower. 54 feet taller than Eiffel Tower

Samurai guarding Imperial Palace

Changing of the Guards at Gate to Imperial Palace

Double Bridge in front of Imprtial Palace

One of the local police boxes or stations

Today is a day at sea. I ordered room service and going to relax today. We are headed to Sapporo, Japan. Should arrive tomorrow evening.

Today is Easter. The room stewards bright chocolate Easter Bunnies to each stateroom. We should arrive Sapporo around 4 this afternoon. Today is first day I actually feel like getting out and doing things. Going to a couple of lectures and watching for whales from Explorers Lounge. Apparently yesterday, one of the guides on board saw a humpback from the fron of the ship.

It’s rainy and foggy so probably won’t be able to see much today.

Today we are in Sapporo, Japan. This will be our last day in Japan before 7 days crossing the sea to Alaska. This includes crossing the International Date Line. Weather today is cloudy temperature around 49 but feels like 39.

At the Sapporo Olympic museum, you can try ski jumping, bobsledding and cross country skiing on simulators.

Hokkaido University clock Tower

Olympic Gold Medalist Lillehammer 1994 Nordic Combined

Olympic torch Bejing 2022

Paralympic equipment

Ski jumping simulator

Entrance to Shinto Shrine

Cleansing before entering the Shrine

Shrine

Ceremony for baby

Shinto priest

Today is the first of 7 days at sea. I’m going to be doing laundry shortly. The seas are a bit rough so I’m holding out hope to sea whales. They saw Orca off the bow of the ship outside of Yokohama.

They are having bridge classes and crafting classes as well as lectures all day long.

We are 30 nautical miles from Russiabut too cloudy to see anything.

IYKYK

Day 2 of 8 sea days. Today going to lecture on whale watching from ship in Bering Sea. \240We should be seeing whales and dolphins from the ship in the next couple of days.

We are getting quite a bit of rocking and rolling.

Day 3 at sea. I’m not bored at all. Relaxing, reading and imbibing. Perfect way to spend time. Hopefully will see some whales today or tomorrow.

We have been setting our clocks ahead 1 hour every night since leaving Sapporo. When I arrived in Tokyo, we were 14 hours ahead of home. Today we are 18 hours ahead and tomorrow we cross the International Dateline so they are saying we will repeat the 26th of April twice.

We have had pretty rough seas as we are in the North Pacific Ocean. We have 10-15 foot seas. I enjoyed the sleep but there are a lot of people having issues today.

Another day at sea. Every day we set clock ahead an hour. Can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow. Have not been bored at all. Have been relaxing and doing absolutely nothing.

Saw 2 whales from the Explorers Lounge but unfortunately didn’t have my phone. Maybe tomorrow.

We will have the 26th for 2 days as we cross the International date line. Today is the 26th and tomorrow will be the 26th also.

Today is really April 26, again as we have crossed the International Date Line. I’ve never had a day last 48 hours but some have felt that way. We went from a 19 hour time difference with Houston to now we are 4 hours behind. \240We are in the Bering Sea today.

Going to be whale watching today.

The latest additions to the Viking ships. Saw them yesterday empty and couldn’t figure out what they were. Now I know.

Today really is April 27. We had April 26 for 48 hours as we crossed the International Date Line.

We can see the Aleutian Islands from the ship. No luck seeing whales yet today. \240They are saying the water is too cold for the plankton which is what the whales feed on.

One of the Aleutian Islands

I’m going to spend the day whale watching. There were 7 or 8 during dinner last night. Hopefully I can get some pictures today.

We should be arriving in Kodiak, Alaska around 6:30 am tomorrow morning.

Today we are in Kodiak, Alaska. \240They do not have tourist buses in Kodiak so we get to take school buses when they aren’t being used for school. \240It’s 41 right now, going to high of 47 with rain. Yippee.

Downtown Kodiak is about 2 blocks square. They have a mall with a bakery and another coffee shop, an ACE Hardware, a police station, 4 museums and 7 bars and/or liquor stores. \240Apparently Kodiak has a crime problem because there were signs all around “downtown” about stopping Kodiak crime.

The view from my room today

Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral

The side of one of the buildings downtown

Harbor master

Kodiak Police Station

Fishing boats in the harbor

The oldest bar in Alaska. Est 1899

Fish processing plants

Beautiful view

One of the Viking busses today

Today we are tendering off the coast of Homer, Alaska. It is cold and rainy and awaiting an announcement as to whether the tenders will be operating today.

A lot of the shops on the Homer Split were not open. \240Not sure if that was due to time of day or time of season. The museum was a small house so didn’t even go in.

The largest salmon caught in Alaska was 97.5 pounds

Beautiful scenery leaving Homer

Salmon chowder