Tiredness must have caught up with us as we didn't set an alarm and woke up at 8:30am. Turning on the TV bow cam indicated we were in the final stages of docking. Since our plans were open today, we casually got ready and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast before boarding the complementary shuttle to down's JR rail station. At the drop off point, we were once again greeted by helpful local high school students eager to help us and practice their English. Their teacher was with them and I thanked him for doing this.
The students helped us find the best way to the Ropeway (cable car) up Mt. Hakodate which was to take the tram (600 Yen ($6) for an all day tram pass) to the Jujigai station and walk up the hill to the Ropeway station. There we bought a one way cable car ride and took the cable car to the top where we took in the views for about an hour before beginning our walk down the mountain using a marked path and a hand drawn map that the Ropeway ticket seller provided us.
We walked the forest path down the mountain and somewhere the trail didn't follow the map. But we hiked on and the trail narrowed to just wide enough for a person to walk between the undergrowth. And all along the trail were shrines which I took pictures of every one. Finally at the bottom we came out at a large cemetery and the burial place of one of Japan's most famous modern sculptors: Nakahara Teijiro. Since the Ropeway wasn't nearby like we expected, I consulted my electronic maps and determined that the tram line was nearby and down the hill.
So we walked down the hill and headed to the Hakodate Dock-mae station (end of the line). Along the way an American classic car in a building caught my eye and we went in. There was a black '59 Chevrolet convertible and light metallic green '63 Chevrolet convertible. Both were immaculate. In the back of the store was the trunk area of a '71 Thunderbird that was customized into a sofa. When I verbally identified the vehicles, the proprietor was visibly stunned. That led to me sharing pictures of my classic cars and despite our English/Japanese language difficulties, the language of cars transcended it. It was a wonderful encounter that only happens when one walks around with eyes open and a sharing heart.
We caught the tram (it runs every 10 minutes) at station number D23 and rode it across town to near the airport and stop D2 where the Botanical Garden and the monkeys were located. A small group of Japanese high school students were headed to the same place so they 'adopted' us and we chatted along the way so they could practice their English. Just before the Botanical Garden there was a yard with a sheep and a goat in it.
At the Botanical Garden, we paid the 300 yen ($3) per person entry fee and headed straight for the monkeys. There were about 50 of them in a large enclosure and we fed them monkey food pellets that the students had purchased. Some of the monkeys were very adept at catching the pellets and some even gestured for us to throw pellets to them. It was a cool encounter.
We briefly toured the Botanical Garden which was a large dome with lots of plants and a fish pond with coi and turtles and a few parakeet type birds. Outside the dome building was a covered shelter over a hot water pool, so we soaked our feet for a bit. It was then time to head back. We walked a few blocks and stopped at Lawson convenience store for a very late lunch of some sushi and a zero calorie Japan cola. Just a tip when traveling in Japan: the convenience stores (Lawson, 7/11, Family Mart, etc.) generally have healthy food items and are relatively inexpensive.
We got on our tram at stop #D02 and rode it back to the JR Railway station (stop D17) where we did a quick tour of it before boarding our shuttle bus back to the port. Back onboard the ship, the Lido was serving a Japanese themed dinner so I enjoyed my fill of sashimi along with Bok Choi and short ribs. And Captain Arno ate his dinner wearing a Japanese robe. I thanked him for the credit we received and we shared my observation about being still on the ship for another month. He noted that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all the ports are new for him until we reach Papua New Guinea.
Terry Greenberg gave a presentation on Japanese proverbs and etiquette which was quite good. The only other evening entertainment was a showing of Avengers End Game. About 7:45pm the ship left the dock so I went outside to watch the night departure before heading up to the Crow's Nest to watch the continuing sail away. There we chatted with another couple for several hours while watching the bright lights emanating from the numerous fishing boats.
Tomorrow is a sea day before reaching our turn around port of Yokohama.
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