WE ARE IN THE PORT OF ONOHAMA

We are now in the Port of Onohama.  Not much, except coal piles and, perhaps a mile away, an Aeon Mall.

I've never heard of Onohama.  Turns out there is a good reason.  No actual city of Onohama.  The Port of Onohama, where the Oceania Riviera is berthed, and Onohama Beach, somewhere close by, use that name.  Onohama is a tiny town 10 miles south of Iwaki City.

We are in the southern region of Tohoku that was devastated by the 11March2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.  In Iwaki City alone, 60,000 houses were partially or totally destroyed.

The primary attraction is something called Spa Resort Hawaiians:

• Inaugurated in 1966 as the Joban Hawaiian Center, the resort is now a desirable tourist destination.

• 
  Most famous for hula performances by the Hula Girls.
• In the 1960s, Iwaki was a coal mining town facing crisis.  The Hula Girls formed to draw tourists. Since that 2011 tsunami, in addition to their linkage to this resort, the Hula Girls still regularly visit numerous evacuation centers in the region.  The tragedy continues.
• There are also a Water Park, onsen, hotels and a golf course.

Lunch today featured Mexican food.  Very good.  Everything we've eaten on this ship has been excellent.  Oceania deserves their reputation for fine cuisine.

Before dinner, enjoyed the performance with Glenfiddich on rocks of the Amadeus String Quartet playing more popular music.

Tonight, maybe the fanciest restaurant on the ship, Jacques, for French cuisine.  I started with escargot a La Bourguignonne with butter lettuce and blue cheese dressing, followed by halibut.  A great start.

The white wine was a typical New Zealand sauvignon blanc.  The red wine is kind of mysterious.  Line 39 (located on the 39th parallel) provides organic wines, and is linked to O'Neill Vintners of Parlier, California and Robert Hall Winery of Paso Robles.  For my final entré, combined a Tournedos Rossini and pea vichyssoise.  The steak is a filet mignon, panfried in butter, topped with seared foie gras, sprinkled with slices of black truffles, and finished with sauce madére, which ruined everything.  As I recall, when I had this before, the sauce was overpowering.  The dish would have been fine, and lot more edible without it.

Note this version above has no sauce.  Dessert was a gigantic Mille-Feuille.  Maybe if 1/4 or 1/10 what they served, that would have been enough.  Needless to say, we ate too much.

Kind of a nothing day, and it showed with only 2510 steps today,.

Arrived into Sendai at 7AM this morning.  Not much to see from our veranda.

We leave Sendai a 3PM for Hakodate on Hokkaido.  We will take our first tour tomorrow.  I read where the Cherry Blossoms are now blooming on this northern island.

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