The order, once we’d arrived and been seated, was equally straightforward. Oysters and gumbo for Hughesy, the lady’s set for Madam plus the obligatory glass of Chablis to go with the oysters.
Unfortunately the oysters arrived as ordered rather than the double helping we’d had in Kanazawa, but they were big, plump and excellent au naturel with a touch of chilli and tomato sauce,
Again, I enjoyed the gumbo and Madam’s set (salad, platter of Cajun/Creole nibbles including ceviche, seafood pasta and a slice of chocolate cake) looked as good as the few morsels I managed to sample tasted. If I had a complaint about both G&O establishments it would have concerned the lack of New Orleans music in the background, but you can’t have everything and it would be unreasonable to expect it. Both the Kanazawa and Kobe establishments are part of a nation-wide chain, so I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting G&O from time to time over the next few years.
After lunch I headed upstairs to Tower Records to pick up a couple of the items I’d spotted, then headed across to buy Madam’s new suitcase and a book about translation matters then, with those matters negotiated it was down to the subway and off to Myodani where a visit to the electrical store for a new digital camera was the next item on the agenda.
Actually, once we’d got off the train I sat with the luggage (surrounded by assorted geriatric Japanese) while Madam arranged the purchase, after which we caught a cab back to The Mother’s for the final packing process.
This was a straightforward procedure as far as I was concerned, clean clothes in the upper compartment, everything else except for the things I needed for the flight down below. Madam’s procedure was more complicated so while she continued packing I got out of the way, wrote up the note book and finished the half bottle of Brown Brothers Patricia Noble Riesling 2000 that had been sitting in The Mother’s fridge for the past three or four years (and very nice it was, too).
Once the packing was out of the way there was nothing to do but sit back and wait for the taxi shuttle, which was due to collect us at 4:50 and arrived on time, giving us just under two hours to enjoy the views as the driver navigated his way through the various pickup points and eventually deposited us outside the departures section of Kansai International.
Checking in involved a wait in a lengthy queue since there were two Jetstar flights departing simultaneously, one to Cairns, the other to Brisbane and Sydney - and both seemed to be rather heavily booked. Then, once the luggage was off our hands it was a matter of killing another two hours before boarding.
The first bit was fairly straightforward. A stroll through the duty-free shopping, a survey of the available meal options and a decision that Madam would head for the sushi/sashimi outlet while I wolfed down some pasta with a glass of red to go with it.
Having eaten, there was not much else to do but head for Departure Lounge 6 and settle down to wait for boarding. Both of us had something to read and I had the iPod, so the wait didn’t present any major problem.
For some reason the initial boarding call was in English rather than Japanese, which gave us a head-start on most of our fellow passengers. Not that it did anything to expedite our departure but at least we were seated with hand luggage safely stowed well before the majority of passengers made their way onto the aircraft.