My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
May, June & July 2024
We stopped in Shimizu a few times. I liked it right away, not just because it is a fun word to say but also because we could walk right out from the port.
Sometimes we could see Mount Fuji on our way in.
A couple of blocks from the ship there is a shopping mall where one can find a museum that features Mount Fuji made of sushi:
It featured Barack Obama
The first time I went to Shimizu I went with my friend Kotoha, one of our resident Guest Entertainers.
We were looking for lunch, as usual. There were many restaurants with a long wait so we put our names down and then kept wandering until we found a place with no wait and amazing food.
This fish salad with avocado was so good that I would think about it for days before we re-approached Shimizu. This was another instance where the first place I went when I returned to a port was the first place I visited when I was there the first time.
On our way back we stopped at a fancy gelato shop. I was so happy to have Koto there to interpret for me. When I was in Italy I loved that every gelateria had different flavors than the ones that I was familiar with and I always liked to try a flavor I had never heard of before. My favorite flavor of gelato that I discovered from this practice is cinnamon – the kind made with real cinnamon not just sugary cinnamon syrup. Now this place had flavors that I definitely had never seen offered as ice cream!
I turned to Koto and asked her if these were common flavors in Japan. She laughed – No! They weren’t! I had to try them.
Well I can tell you that all of the flavors that didn’t seem like they should be ice cream flavors were gross! I was really hoping to discover some surprising lost gem, but I didn’t. I ended up ordering two normal flavors and they were delicious.
The next time we went to Shimizu it was Masahiro’s birthday. We rounded up the stragglers to celebrate.
Masa had spent his last vacation backpacking around South America. He is such an interesting guy. I really enjoyed working with him for most of my contract.
One time I was wandering around with Andi. I had often sat with Dave at the Starbucks (Starbucks-suh) in Japanese) in the shade with an amazing view of the ship. Andi and I decided to explore a bit more of the town. We went around behind the mall (the opposite side of where the Starbucks-suh is) and we were hit with such an intense wave of heat that we got the message, turned around, found a bakery and brought back a load of pastries for Lauren, the Entertainment Director.
When we came to Shimizu with my mom we did all my favorite things. We joined Dave at the place with the fish bowl where I had gone with Koto on our first visit. I showed her Mount Fuji made of sushi and the weird gelato. I downloaded podcasts with the mall’s wifi. It was another nice easy day.