Henmi Ryokan Hakodate

... positive spin on our detour; he says it will be one more day of Kobe steak. We are using internet cafes, but it is very difficult getting directions to one, because no one speaks English. They do try, however. We are in Otaru and it is raining off and on. We dont have pix yet. We will have to wait til next stop.

... rough waters. So far so good, anyway.

Cub has gone to all the historical and geological seminars, and I have gone to the spa seminars about weight loss and nutrition. Today, I’m going to join the knitting group.

I hope all is well with everyone back in the States.

Later,

Elaine and Cub

Our train chugged in to Hakodate around noon. The sky was overcast and the weather was chilly. The only thing on our schedule was a castle where the samurai had their fabled last stand. After we went there and tramped all through the mud trying to find something interesting in the castle, we were stumped. And then it started raining. We retreated to the gift shop where we hid out waiting for the rain to stop before we tried to run to the bus stop. It did not ...

... wanted to see some Cherry Blossoms and landscaped gardens. We decided to navigate the local bus system and go to Goryoukaku (Go-roo-kah-koo) Park. Brad's Japanese is really coming along too. He used it today asking a random local waiting with us if he had the right change for the bus: Brad (points to sign): Goryoukaku? Local man: Hai (yes) Brad (holds out 230 Yen): Good yen for bus? Local Man (checks the yen): Hai. (switches to ...

... sea lions, pinguin and walrus shows beside many fish we've never seen before ! Finally we reached our final destination of north Japan: Hakodate, big city in the south of Hokkaido where we could go on top of Mount Hakodate to have a view of the city by night (very crowded place indeed). We wanted to see cherry blossom for a last time in Matsumae, unfortunately only 1/10th of the 10.000 trees were blossoming, the rest would come later.

... prendre les photos. Les Chinois n'ont pas la meme politesse que les Japonais ! Bref, rien de tel pour nous remettre de nos emotions qu'un bon repas dans un Sushiya. Nous avons de nouveau deguste des Sushis delicieux en testant cette fois des nouveautes : oursin, crabe, anguille (cuite), oeufs de saumon, calamar et tantacule de pieuvre. Mais notre sushi prefere restera le maquereau. Le lendemain nous nous sommes rendus a Mastumae ou on comptait voir ...

... smelled intensely of the sea (i.e rotting fish) and inspected some squid boats (they have these rows of lamps to hang over the water to attract the squid to the top). So there's an overpriced cable car service up to the top of Mt. Hakodate, and despite the information office's attempt to dissuade me, I decided to hike up to the top in time for the night view (one of Japan's three best night views, he says sardonically). I gave myself a couple of hours given how ...

... lanterns running along the decks to attract the squid. Fish is all the rage on this island. Think I might be facing my fears again sometime very soon! There was a serious blizzard going on here for most of my stay so I missed the usually beautiful view across the bay sadly. Oh well... on to Sapporo....

... qui avais boucler tout un secteur. J'ai finalement fini par savoir que hakodate a une communaute russe qui date des premiers echange commerciaux a la fin des annees 1800. Donc le ministre des affaires etrangeres de la russie etait sur place. Deux helicoptere, une centaine de policier, un quartier de ferme a toute circulation. jai fini par me trouver un chemin pour me rendre dans le quartier ...

We are finishing up a couple of days in Hakodate, a middling-sized port city at the southeastern tip of Hokkaido, Japan's large north island. We began our stay with a visit to the large fish and produce markets. We were quite taken by the displays of seafood, particularly the many types of crab. There was lots of live squid and scallops as well. We then made the climb to the series of small peaks that tower over the town. Pleasingly wooded ...