Tokiwa Gawa

Woke up at 5:30. Realized the Internet Hockey Puck decided to eat the charging cable. Finally got the piece out with a pair of nail clippers.

Mom up around 7:30 and breakfast at the Garden Buffet. Mom had someone cut in front of her three times. But mom didn’t go after her so that was a plus. We decided to wait in the main atrium for the all clear to go ashore. I helped some people plan their day and made sure they had a picture of a map to get back.

The line to disembark was nuts as usual; mom and I got stopped at the stairs because they needed to clear out the first wave of people. Again a number of people tried to cut line when there was a literal velvet rope blocking the staircase. I ended up body blocking most of cutters. The experience isn’t helping mom’s opinion of a certain group.

We ended up getting a taxi super fast somehow and went to the Goryokaku Tower to see the star shaped fort. No cherry blossoms yet sadly but it was still impressive. We also found that Hakodate had the cutest bird ever called Shimaenaga (aka the long-tailed tit.) pfft…

Got in another taxi to go to the Hakodate Botanical Gardens to see the ‘hot tubbing monkeys.’ The place wasn’t like advertised though and the monkeys looked pretty rough.

Got another taxi to go to the Hakodate Meijikan for a bit of souvenir hunting. Lovely set of shops in the original 1911 post office. I forgot one yen of my change and the shopkeeper ran after me to make sure I got it back. Only in Japan… There was also a Teddy Bear Museum on the second floor that housed bears that had been customized by famous people including the Dali Lama!

We were up to walking back to the ship but Google maps decided to stage a coup…So get another taxi back. We had interesting drivers all day from the First Lady taxi driver I’ve met in Japan to the grimy looking one who demanded i count my change and wasn’t as grumpy as first thought to the least taxi that opened the car door at the terminal only to drive on further with mom half out the door.

Late 2pm-ish lunch at O’Sheean’s. The waiters there are a hoot and keep trying to feed me and mom more food. One got me to try the soup of the day, Mexican Gumbo. My mouth is still on fire. Met a nice lady who used to be a professional ballerina and had a good talk with her about her travels. Back to the room for a rest around 4pm. Not sure what we are planning for this evening…will update tomorrow.Läs mer