This is part 2 of our Hakodate adventure. After a wonderful day of sightseeing we decided to go out and see what the nightlife was like near our hotel.
At our age the nightlife starts while it's still light outside.
The izakaya district is very close to our hotel.
The hardest thing about going out is picking a place to go into. It seems like there are well over 100 izakaya's to choose from.
We finally made our choice.
Kanpai! (Cheers!). We had good food and plenty to drink but we decided that one night out like this was enough. For the next few nights we'll eat and drink in our hotel room.
Next day: Today we're going to visit the Goryokaku Tower, Goryokaku Park and the Hakodate Museum of Art.
The first step of todays adventure starts with a ride on a streetcar.
We get of the street car at the Goryokaku-koen-mae tram stop and from there it's a short walk to Goryokaku Tower. This tower is no joke! it's huge. It's 107 meters (351 feet) tall. The Official Tower Website
It's an amazing view from the observation deck.
Looking down at Goryokaku Park.
A view of the harbor.
The observation deck has a lot of information about Goryokaku Fortress
We are not alone on the observation deck.
Looking down on the tour bus parking lot. It's a good thing that we came here early, the parking lot is filling up with buses very quickly.
After visiting the tower we went to the Hakodate Museum of Art. The MOA was across the street from the tower. Photography is prohibited inside the Museum so I have no pictures. Howerver, one can check out their website "here".
After the MOA we walked to Goryokaku-koen. Emi took a tour of the historical Hakodate Magistrates office (pictured here) and I walked around the park which is the former sight of the fortress.
There's a nice view of the tower from the park.
After spending about an hour at the park we ate a late lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant and then we returned to our hotel location for some free-time walking around and some shopping for food and drinks for consuming in our room.
Next day: It's raining! That's not good because today's the day we're going to take a ferry from Hakodate, Hokkaido to Aomori Prefecture, Honshu. The purpose of the trip is to visit Oma Point, the northern most point of Honshu Island.
The view from our hotel window. It's raining but according to the weather report port it should stop in time for our ferry trip. There is a special bus that will take us from the bus terminal (the big parking area in the picture) to the Hakodate Ferry Terminal.
Fast forward: We have arrived at the Ferry Terminal and Emi is buying our round-trip tickets. Tsugarukaikyo Ferry Global website
This is the Ferry that will take us to Oma in Aomori. It's still raining.
After all the trucks, cars and motorcycles are loaded onto the ferry we are allowed to walk onboard. We enter the ferry using the same loading ramp as the motor vehicles use.
We are underway and it looks a bit scary!
And, after a couple of hours we arrive safely at Oma Ferry terminal in Aomori.
Inside the Oma ferry terminal. Emi poses with a fish.
Motorcycles drive out of the ferry's bow ramp and we start our walk from the terminal to Oma point.
It's supposed to be about a 3 kilometer walk from the terminal to the point. Should be no problem if we don't get lost (guess what). It's not raining but it sure looks like it wants to.
Walking through the fishing port village. It looks deserted. We don't see any people.
The waterfront scenery is nice... nice and dark that is.
Passing by the main fishery.
We have come to a fork in the road. One way is the right way and the other is the wrong way. Think carefully, check and recheck google maps on our cell phones. The correct way is the left fork... we took the right fork.
After walking for what seemed like forever we finally happened upon a gas station and the station attendant very politely told us we were heading in the wrong direction. He got us headed in the right direction and eventually we saw a sign pointing us to Omazaki (Oma Point).
We have arrived at the northern most point on Honshu Island! This is a view of a lighthouse on a small island just off the coast.
Proof that we really made it to Oma Point. Now all we have to do is walk back to the ferry terminal and catch the ferry before it departs.
On the way back to the ferry it started to rain. We had folding umbrellas with us but the rain was so heavy that the umbrellas we almost useless. We were lucky to find a store on the way to the ferry landing that sold us obento's for our lunch. We made it back to the ferry terminal intime to catch our scheduled ferry.
We are underway and heading back to Hakodate! My shoes and socks are soaking wet, but that's okay, we're on our way and we are happy for that!
Land Ho! I can see Hakodate in the distance.
Now we're back in front of the Hakodate Ferry Terminal waiting for our bus back to town.
Here comes the bus! Here comes the bus! We're so excited... I need a drink!
The view from our bus as we depart the ferry terminal area and head back to our hotel.
That's the end of part 2. Part 3 is coming soon!
Sneak preview: Tomorrow we're going to visit Onuma Koen. I hope my shoes are dry by then!
As always, thanks for stopping by!
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