Hotel Route Inn Grantia Hakodate Ekimae

Sunday, we finally went ashore to Hakodate, Japan. It felt so good to be firmly on terra firma. We did a bit of sightseeing and shopping. It was a very clean Japanese town. Hope all is well at home. Also, due to the typhoon, we will not be going to Tokyo. Instead we will spend the extra time in Kobe. Cub has put ...

Just the deep blue SEA!<br><br><br><br>This is our fifth day on the high seas, and we are about 1704 nautical miles from Seattle. We should arrive in Hakodate, Japan next Sunday, Oct 4.<br><br>So far our Pacific voyage has been interesting. We were all so worried about Cub being well during our journey, but it turns out ...

... raining.<br> Somehow we made it back to the bus stop without getting completely drenched, but by that point we were all groggy, hungry, and tired of being illiterate. For dinner we went to a cafe that was pretty unremarkable except for, I kid you not, pokemon shaped ice cream cones.<br> We wandered back to the hotel and expected to fall asleep. But, of course, we caught a second wind stayed up to the wee hours of the morning. Tomorrow's train ride will be fun.

... Hakodate, seafood means 'catch heaps of weird **** from the ocean and steam it, wrap it in seaweed or put it in soup with a boiled egg'. C'mon. This place is known for its squid. There's a STATUE of a squid. Do you think we could get a little bag of calamari? The morning markets were pretty interesting though. It reminded us of the Queen Vic markets in Melbourne (you know, except with dried cuttlefish and sea urchin burgers...) Today we ...

We've stayed about 1 week on Hokkaido and went to 4 different places. The first one was Toya-Ko, a volcanic area with some smoking mounts. The last eruption happened in 2000 from Mt. Usu, an active stratovolcano. This national parc has splendid sceneries and was very interesting, but we wouldn't really want to leave there knowing that a volcano could wake up anytime ! After that, we headed to Sapporo where we met the rain and even some ...

... nous sommes alles voir un parc avec douves en etoile (jadis etant le lieu d'un chateau inspire des constructions de Vauban) ou commencait tout juste la floraison des cerisiers. De nouveau on a senti la frenesie des japonais... Ensuite nous attendait un bain de foule sino-japonais en haut du mont Hakodate (on l'on a pu monter en bus qui circulent seulement a partir de la nuit tombee). C'etait certes tres joli, mais pas facile d'atteindre les rembardes ...

... 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....

... j'ai donc decider de payer un peu plus et d'aller dans un hotel d'une grande chaine japonaise. Toyoko-inn. heureusement pour moi, les prix sont moins eleve en hiver. donc au lieu de payer 80.00$ la nuit, je pays 50.00$ lit double, internet dans la chambre, salle de bain privee, dejeuner inclus, le gros luxe! Une fois partie pour faire le tour de la ville. je me suis fais barrer la route par la ...

... slivered dried squid. This inspired the others, and one by one they came over and giggling they each gave us a little something: nori-wrapped rice crackers, tiny sugary almond cookies, coconut-mint candies. For dinner we made our first visit to a sushi restaurant since arriving in Japan. It was one of those places with small plates on a conveyor, but this place had not one, but two tracks. Plates of two pieces ranged from $1.30 for ...