Back to Yokohama...
Hard to believe it had only been a week since we'd left Yokohama. We'd been to so many places and seen so much since then. And so it was with a mixture of happiness and melancholy that we said goodbye to Osaka and took the bullet train back to Yokohama the day before our second cruise was due to leave. Orginally we had planned to spend the day in Osaka and then take a later train to Yokohama. The ride is an easy 2 hour 300 mile ride on the bullet train with only 3 stops along the way. But because we'd fit in so much before, including a day trip to Osaka when we'd still been in Kyoto, we decided to take an earlier train to Yokohama.
Okay... so the real reason was that there was, of all things, a German beer festival going on in Yokohama. Our friends from the first Japan cruise had spent a few days in Yokohama after that cruise and told us about the beer festival. Luckily it was still going on for two more days and so we (I) was able to take advantage of it to sample a large variety of German and German style beers. Don't get me wrong, I like Japanese beers, but after almost a month of drinking mostly Japanese lager beers I was ready for something different! There actually had been another beer festival going on in Osaka, another hotspot for Japanese craft brewing, but it had been difficult to attend, requiring you to purchase a glass before hand and other restrictions. The Yokohama beer festival was first come, first served (pun intended) and, best of all, every beer booth served flights, where you can taste a variety of smaller servings of different beers in one purchase.
This was definitely fate and so we (I) could not pass it up! To top it all off, the festival was taking place at the Red Brick Warehouse just 1/2 mile from our Yokohama hotel. Yes... it was meant to be and far be it for me to tempt fate (excuse my mangled English - no snide comments please).
Of course every relationship requires give and take, compromise. Elizabeth was being an angel about all of this, and being supportive, but she deserved something as well. So we also made our way to Yokohma Chinatown to sample the soup dumplings. Believe it or not, Yokohama has what some say is the largest Chinatown in Asia (I assume that's outside of China).The area we went to had a number of shops specializing in soup dumplings and the shop we picked had one of the longest lines, so I assume it was one of the best. Only the best for my sweetie :-)
Click this link or a picture above to see more pictures.
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