Kobe Fruits and Flower Park (神戸フルーツ・フラワーパーク)

This final Saturday in August, I FINALLY made it out to the fruit and flower park!!! I've been wanting to go since I found out about it in December. And I didn't even have to go alone--a friend came together with me!

So, basically, at this place, the main purpose to go there is to go fruit picking and eat ridiculous amounts of fruit. As much as possible without getting sick, is what I would say is a good measure.

When I had been looking into the kinds of fruits that we could pick, the options for August were supposed to be grapes, peaches or (Asian) pears. I think we were originally talking about peaches, but when we got there, we found out that was finished already. Oh! And you can do apples in September!! We decided we want to go do that next month! Mmmmm.....apples....

In order to get out there, we took a bus from Sannomiya (there is a bus that goes directly there, but it only runs on weekends and holiday days). It was really convenient (especially because we could use our IC cards) and it only cost 610¥ and it took about 35 minutes to get there! (Which is much cheaper and faster than the other non-direct bus or train options).

It was kind of funny though, because when the bus arrived there and we started to get off the bus, the driver seemed rather surprised and wanted to check to make sure we were getting off at the right place. Not really sure why...maybe foreigners don't go out there often? We didn't really see any when we were there.

Anyway, when we arrived there, there weren't so many people, and we took a leisurely walk around the grounds to explore and check out what there was, and what we could possibly do after. Turns out there was a nice cafe, a big bbq area, some open spaces that would be good for events or picnics, a kind of amusement park, some small, shallow pools with these giant inflated jumping/slide things, and even a hotel. Interesting. Then we headed out to the fruit picking area, and on the way there, they also have mini-golf and go-karts. 

Pretty flowers!

View from the parking entrance

 

Yes, we are still in Japan (if you saw it out of context, you'd never guess that though!)

When we got to the fruit area (did I mention we decided to go with pears?), we paid our 1000¥ to get in and go do our picking and all we could eat (食べ放題)! 

Yum! Yes please!

They gave us a couple plastic knives and plastic bags to put our waste in, and we collected a bucket for water for washing.

Japanese Engish kills me sometimes..."a bucket of ME"....what does that even mean??!

Then we went in and found a nice spot with lots of pears to pick, and sat down and started our feast.  

Let's EAT!!

 

I want to eat you!! *evil laughter*

They were delicious! But, just so you know, we weren't total gluttons--there were still pears left on the trees when we left. Hehehe. 

See?! Still on the tree!

But seriously though, we spent a lot of time talking. And taking pictures. And watching the dragonflies. It was a pretty good morning!! (Although we did get really full, and our stomachs hurt a bit afterwards...but it was worth it!) 

 

You could also take some fruit out with you, but you have to pay extra for that, and as it was more expensive than buying them normally, we decided against that option.

The pear grove

Looks good, right?!

There were actually a few blossoms still. Strange.

After that, we took a bit more of a walk and then eventually ended up at a cafe for lunch (we were surprisingly a little hungry). More talking!

The grapes....

Nice view

Then we wanted to go eat gelato, although before that, we got distracted by these animal things that you could ride. My friend went for a ride on a dragon. It was funny to watch and she tried to chase me down, but it was too slow. Hehehe. 

"Take my picture!!!!"

"It's fun...really!"

 

And that was pretty much our day at the park! Next time: apples!!!

 

:::UNRELATED:::
 

And really quickly--Other things of interest that have happened in the past week since Obon:

This week I had a volunteer grade 7 student in my classroom, and he was really interesting to watch because he was so awkward with the kids, although he did get better as time went on. The first day I asked him if he was scared of the kids, and he answered 'yes' straight up. I swear, they really aren't that bad!! During the pool days, we told our kids that they couldn't splash us, but our volunteer was fair game. He got soaked. ;) And there were some epic water battles between him and the 4 year olds. Really fun to watch. By the end of the week all of the 4 year old girls were in love with him and were constantly hanging off him, touching and doing their very best to get as much of his attention as they could. It was kind of surprising, but also funny to watch because he had no idea what to do with them.

Wednesday night after my class, ヨシダさん had another live at Pinot, and so I went. This time though I had a book or two and my notebook with me, so he made some comment about how I really looked like a teacher that night (it was my student version though....). Yet again, a fun night. This time I ended up talking with another girl who had come in in her own. She was nice enough, and said next time, we should talk again.

And finally, Saturday evening, Colors to Cooks had a street live in Sannomiya, and so I went and listened for a while. Good fun! And the weather was much cooler and endurable than it has been.
Oh no! August is already almost over! Time is going by far too quickly!!