Had a very nice train ride through what could have been Kansas this morning.I left Sapporo ninety minutes early because I knew I was going to be battling this machine. it took 4 tries. But I got my ticket and I even found the correct bus.
In about 2 hours, the bus pulls up just outside The Bearmonte Hotel on the slope of Mt. Asahidake.
Hotel #6. It’s huge. And it’s not very old woman friendly. See those stairs?
They lead to my bed. You can by guess where the bathroom is. I could have complained and asked to be downgraded to a smaller room. Not my style.
This is what I came to see.And butterflies that are perfectly designed to match the tree.
There’s no place to eat up here. So everyone eats at the hotel.
And almost every one From great grand kids to the great grandparents, wore their hotel supplied jammies to dinner.
I wore my green and beige jammies to dinner as well. Suddenly taken very weary
Night night.
Last night I woke up having a minor panic attack. How was I going to wash my hair when the tub/shower was well over knee high with no grab bars in sight? What if I miss the only bus? What if I can not figure out where the bus was and how to pay for it? What if my debit card stopped working? What if Trump is reelected?
Honestly only the last one is a problem. I got my hair washed. I have a train ticket to the town the bus leaves from with almost 2 hours to get the bus sorted. I have another debit card and enough cash to hold me until Tokyo.
So, why not go to the zoo. They are supposed to have polar bears and wolves. 2 subways. 1 bus. I can do this. Well.
There’s a ptice to pay if you miss your Subway stop and have to turn around and go back a station.
But, I made it to the zoo. After missing my subway stop.
Recycling. The Sapporo zoo seems to keep their animals working even after they’re dead. The giraffe and the elephant were long-time residents.And some of the former residents get stuffed.
Actually, it seems like a cool idea to me.
The zoo has lots of birds.And two polar bears but I only saw one.
I was hot, tired and rather disappointed with the entire zoo. I think the problem with the zoo is they have to spend an awful lot of money keeping the animals warm in Winter. So there’s summer outdoor enclosures are rather small and uninteresting.
On my way out I stopped to look at the elephant enclosure. Surprise surprise. They have an 11-month-old baby elephant. Adorable. She decides she’s had enough of this outdoors and starts charging off indoors. I understand it’s hot outside.
Mom and baby outside.Ah, back inside. I believe the zoo has 4 adult and 1 baby elephants. That’s a lot for such a small municipal zoo.Good advice
Travel day tomorrow. The train part is no problem. But the 90 minute bus ride is shall I say interesting.
Ps The zoo had squatty potties. I took one look at it and decided nope don’t need to go. I was feeling a bit guilty about being so wimpy when I noticed that the Japanese lady who’d followed me in decided she didn’t need to go either.
0509am my hotel is wrapped up in construction netting. It shows up more in photos than in person.
I slept much better last night. About time. After a strange breakfast of fried chicken and bread and butter I headed off to Otaru on the train. It’s another old seaport town. Turned into tourist attraction.
This seems to be the modern version of standing in front of the family automobile. Getting your picture taken to prove that you were on vacationThe canal boats were very busy today. Because that big cruise ship was here today. So, I walked along the canal.
The highlight of Otaru for me was the very strange Otaru Stained Glass Museum.
The stained glass museum.
More about its weirdness at a later date. I just stepped in the door because I was hot and wanted a place to cool off. It turned out that they actually accepted Google Pay. I am not going to count on using Google Pay.
Okay, other countries have just plain stupid citizens too.
When I got back to the Sapporo train station, the afternoon protest was going on. This group seemed to have some problem with the world health organization.
After a little rest I headed out again. I was mildly interested in the Hokkaido Horticultural Park. It was delightful. And. Dangerous.
0355am – sleep wasn’t happening last night. Or this morning.
My friend Sally reminded me that I was still jet lagged what with 13 time zones and yesterday was very stressful. So why should I be surprised by my poor sleep?
I resolved to have a great day in Hakodate. The weather was great. I had no ideas for things to do. Except they couldn’t cost money. Until I get enough yen together to pay of all of my hotels I am operating in budget traveler mode.
Before breakfast, I take in the morning fish market. Not much to photograph. But lots to see and smell.
The squid thing.
There was this strange squid thing. You wait in a long line. You pay about $30. You get a fishing pole kind of thing. You catch a squid. (Out of that blue tank ). Then you eat it. Well the lady in the little booth behind the blue tank. She does something to it but it’s still pretty squiggly when it lands on your plate. I did not play.
Off to breakfast. I wasn’t feeling much like sushi for breakfast this morning. But, that’s what they have for breakfast here so I had sushi again. And what turns out to have been squid stuffed with rice. I didn’t know what it was when I picked it up. I ate it. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It just was and I had no clue what it was. Until this afternoon when I saw something that looked like what I had eaten for breakfast at 7-Eleven. I used my phone to translate the label and that’s when I found out I’d had squid stuffed with rice for breakfast.
Remember, I am operating in strict economy mode. Breakfast came with the room so I ate breakfast.
I head out on foot to see what there is to see in Hakodate. It is a tourist town. But all the tourists are Japanese.
The old harbor area.
Hakodate, like many towns has converted it’s old wharf and Warehouse area into a tourist destination. For shopping of course. I certainly wasn’t up for shopping. But I did see a tour boat going out into the harbor at a price that I felt I could afford. So I hopped on board and spent a very fine 30 minutes.
On the good ship Blue moon.
That was today’s entertainment budget. Money well spent. There were 3 groups of 6 year old kids and some other grown ups. Of course the narrative was in Japanese but no one seemed to be listening so I doubt that I missed anything.
So. What did I find interesting.
Manhole covers.Public art. I suspect this one was tragic. Public art around old seaports frequently remembers some horrible naval disaster.Public art. A fine cat.The brick warehouses.Now this is really special. This is the oldest cement electric pole in Japan. It dates from 1923. When you’re doing the economy route you seek out things like this and enjoy them to the max.Public art at the train station.This isn’t exactly public art. This is a private building. But I still like it.
Totally enjoyed Hakodate. At least on this. Fine cool Sunny summer day. I am sorry that I have to leave tomorrow morning. But my next hotel is in Sapporo. It’s prepaid. And Hakodate is stuffed. There’s a squid festival this weekend.
Your normal Japanese hotel breakfast. But there’s a sushi train.
This is excellent.
At 8:19 a text arrived announcing that my credit card was not present but it ran up a $63 charge at Texas Roadhouse. Before I made it back to my room a $92 charge happened. At another Texas Roadhouse. Before I got some one to answer, my card got $46 worth of pizza at Pizza hut.
Don’t worry ma’am, I have cancelled your account and we will send you a new card in 4 business days.
Okay. I am a silly old woman. I only have one credit card. No, I don’t have a spare. My bad. I own it. But I am in a shit load of trouble. The biggest problem is that my cellphone bill is paid by the closed card in 2 days.
Okay. So I will be in Japan with no credit card and no cell service. You’re dead without a cellphone.
I have done as much as I can. I was so assertive with the credit card company that they passed me to a supervisor who must been a guard in a Russian prison. Google will not cut my service until the 15th. And a credit card is supposed to arrive at the Asylum on Saturday. Not holding my breath.
Always looking on the bright side
My hotel room doesn’t have a shower. But it has a nice table.
I spent a lot of time thinking up how to get the wheels back on. I don:t have to come up with hotel money until July 18. My debit card is fine. But it is useless for anything except getting cash. If the Japanese ATM is willing.
And.
This guy is having a worse day. He is outside a restaurant.
And I did go for a walk.
I wondered the tourist signs are in Japanese. English and Russian. Turns out. Russia is 27 miles away from Hakodate.
Also. Washed some clothes and got naked and did the onsen thing. Both in doors and outdoor.
As my friend Claudia says: The adventure doesn’t begin until the wheels fall off. And the onsen was excellent.
Up this morning. Before the train, I wanted to accomplish 2 tasks. Get some money from an ATM. And, get breakfast from someplace that wasn’t Starbucks or a convenience store. Mission accomplished.
Next task. Find my train. At Tokyo Station. It’s not the busiest train station but it seems like it.An here’s my train. It does go fast and uses the longest undersea tunnel in the world. I would have guessed that the longest undersea tunnel was The Chunnel. Hotel #4 with view of the train station.
I get into the hotel and head out for a walk
It was 90 degrees when I left Tokyo. But it’s 75 in Hakodate.
Downtown Hakodate
I was too hungry and too tired to attack a real restaurant so I had a 7-11 dinner. Also too tired to get naked with my hotel neighbors in the onsen. In fact, I dozed off once while doing this post.
I leave you with an interesting Japanese sandwich.
Arrived in Japan after a remarkably easy 14 hour flight. Tossed right into summer Tokyo heat. And the Tokyo transit system. After a couple of false starts I get my ass on the monorail and then on the Yamamoto Line train and on to my hotel.
Hotel #3
A very nice hotel but only an air shaft for a view. However,
It has nice jammies. Think I am too tired to get into them.
I got a sandwich and coffee for dinner. Next a shower. Then early to bed. Train sometime tomorrow morning. To tired to worry about tomorrow.
0457am Newark SunriseI didn’t look too shabby when I left the hotel this morning at 0630. We’ll see how I am doing 20hours later.Hotel #2. Small accommodations but there’s room service.
Made it into my hotel room in Newark at about 4:00 p.m. and I was starved. So I proceeded to have dinner. Whole wheat croissant, brie and a banana not too shabby. picked them up at the asylum before leaving this morning. And I have a couple of chocolate chip cookies for later.
Leaving Alexandria. Thanks “Hatheway”.
The train ride was uneventful. It was delayed because of the heat but not by much.
Hotel #1. This will be the biggest room that I will have until I return to the old bat’s cave.
Maybe I should get my shoes on and go see what’s happening in exciting downtown Newark. Or even go into the city. But, that bed is looking pretty sweet right about now.
Plan on leaving for the airport 7ish tomorrow morning and hitting the Polaris Lounge for breakfast. Plane boards at 0930. Or not.
Just checking to be sure I can still update the blog from the phone. I don’t like it, but I can do it and I decided not to take my computer to Japan.
I am ready to go to Japan. All that is left on my to do list is clean up the kitchen and water the orchids.
18 pounds.
That is 13 pounds in the black bag and 5 pounds in the backpack. I can handle that and I have sturdy wheels which I hope I can use most of the time. Not much room for shopping, however. But at my age, I really shouldn’t shop. Not even for origami paper.
Granola bars!
Whenever I am going on a trip, after I have packed, I stuffed every available remaining corner with granola bars. I think I have eight granola bars in my bags today. Nothing says home and comfort to me better than a Nature Valley sweet and salty peanut granola bar. I am going to have major jetlag. Comfort will be required. Japan is 13 hours ahead of EDT. I think of it as when it is breakfast time here it’s dinner time there.
0635AM Fireworks hangover in the air this morning.
And at 4PM, it is 99°. Checked today’s forecast for Tokyo. 98° on tap there.
Today’s adventure was a visit to the dentist. I was scolded for ignoring a tooth that “needs major work” or “removal”. Been putting it off. Made an appointment for mid-August. I am going to be a snaggle-toothed old crone. (wreckage of the future thinking)
The Spork will be going to Japan. It will be more useful than another pair of granny panties.
About Fireworks.
Too hazy and damp for the big show on the Mall.
Not to mention, the telephone doesn’t take great fireworks shots. At least when I am the shooter.
But…
But, our next-door apartment building neighbors set off some fine illegal rounds.
Never mind that I had to stick my head out the window to see them. They were very close.
Last-minute fussing and cleaning up the Old Bat’s Cave on tap for tomorrow. And, I need to send a check to secure my November/December lodging in Kona. ( just trying to stay the future course )
