Okay, I took way too long to post these pictures...., but here are some of our photographic memories from our four-day jaunt up to Hakodate - "the San Francisco of Japan".
We took a 2 hour train to Aomori City on the Northern coast of Honshu, then boarded a 4 hour ferry across the water to Hakodate. The ferry literally looked like it was opening its jaws and swallowing the boarding vehicles. We too had to enter through the mouth of this great beast.
In the belly of the beast....
Here we are on board!
We parked it on the upper deck with a couple of Sapporo tall-boys we'd brought aboard and had a nice view for most of the voyage.
Andy took a time out to be present.
Hakodate is on the Southern tip of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. This seaside town was one of the first Japanese ports opened to foreign trade, and there is a sprinkling of unexpected architecture brought in by Russian and European missionaries in the 19th century.Here's one of the beautiful churches (this one happened to be Roman Catholic) nestled into the hillside that over looks the port. You can see one of the town's quaint cobblestone streets in the foreground.
Wandering up the hill we stumbled upon this adorable coffee shop/book store/pension where we sipped on Ceylon tea and admired the nighttime view below us.
Hakodate is very proud of its local squid. We made a visit to the Morning Market to see and taste some for ourselves...
Nom nom nom...donburi!
Look at the size of these crabs!
On the way back to our hotel, we were surprised to stumble upon a big gathering and display of vintage Volkswagons, compliments of the Hakodate VW Owner's Club.
Popped into this little cafe next door to our hotel. The decor was Scandinavian modern, very unexpected. We drank coffee and browsed interior design magazines.
There's that San Francisco view we were looking for...
Oh, and look, there's a cable car!
This might be a contender for our Christmas card
wow....what a great trip!!!
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