April 22, 2023 Hakodate, Japan

Westerdam docked just before 7 a.m. The temperature 7° C, part sun and wind 25 km per hour which increased to over 45 km per hour during the day.

We had breakfast in Lido. Even just after 7 a.m., it was hard to find an empty table. There was plenty of time to walk for 40 minutes on the Promenade Deck. Most of the shore excursions today travelled to Goryokaku Fort and Hakodate Morning Market. We were on the bus by 8:30 a.m. for the day’s seven hour excursion.

The first stop was Goryokaku Park and Goryokaku Tower. The group took an elevator from the main floor up to the observation deck, about 14 floors. The tower is 107 meters high. The iPhone counted this as flights of stairs, which we removed from our day’s count of 57 flights. We had a great view of Goryokaku Fort’s pentagonal structure and the Hakodate area. The day was clear, so we could see where Westerdam was docked far below.

The fort was where the final battle of the Japanese Civil War occurred on May 11, 1869. The Imperial forces defeated the Shogunate forces. The civil war had lasted six years. One of the issues was the opening of Japan to international trade since the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry in Yokohama in 1854.

The park is full of hundreds of cherry trees which were in full blossom. Our guide told us the bloom was more than a week earlier than average for this region. We took the elevator to the top and had great views of the fort and surrounding area. We walked down one flight of stairs where souvenirs were sold and where the elevator down to the second floor was located. Each elevator ride had about 20 people squeezed into it. Just about everywhere you go people are wearing masks, even on the paths of the park. At the second floor there was a restaurant and a gelato shop where we bought a generous scoop of cherry blossom gelato. Here the view was of the top of the cherry trees being buffeted by the strong winds, causing petals to be floating in the air. Red paper lanterns were strung amongst the trees. Dark clouds loomed over the mountains, but there was no rain today. There was a broad winding staircase down to the main floor where we met the group to walk to the fort. On the main floor was a kiosk selling two different kinds of seafood. It was being prepared in full view of everyone. On item looked like a conk shell and the other maybe squid.

The group gathered and walked 150 meters to the fort entrance, walking directly to the Hakodate Bugyosho (Magistrate’s Office) rebuilt in Goryokaku Park in 2010. It had originally been built in the 1850s by the shogunate as its administrative office. With our shoes removed Taki-san, our guide, showed us through the building. There was a video showing the construction of the building using the methods of the original construction. Displayed in one the rooms was a model of the timber frame skeleton. There was time to wander the grounds and further admire the cherry trees in full bloom before going back to the bus.

We drove back to the town to the Hakodate Morning Market. The wind was very strong at sea level and the ship was about 500 meters away. There are more than 280 stalls featuring fish and seafood as well as produce. Many stalls featured snow crabs and large King crabs, salmon and other kinds of fish. There were good sized red or yellow apples and three kinds of asparagus, dark green, white and green that were at least as thick as a person’s thumb. The wind buffeted people as we walked the 200 meters back to where the bus was parked.

It was a short 700 meter drive to the parking lot for the lunch stop. Back in the wind blowing off the water, it was a challenge walking into the wind to the Red Brick Warehouse area about 250 meters away to the Hakodate Beer Hall for lunch. Lunch was smoked salmon and mango salad, grilled fish, grilled pork with potato, and sushi with crab meat stuffed in rice. The restaurant had good Wi-fi to post the photos from yesterday.

After lunch, within a short walk, but we were bused to the Hakodate Museum of Northern People. It highlighted the Ainu people of Hokkaido island who inhabited the island before the 15^th century incursion of the Honshu area shogunate to colonize the island and prohibit their culture. In the late 19^th century efforts were made to record the oral language, legends and culture of the Ainu which is presented in a former Bank of Japan building built in 1926.

The final stop was to go to the top of Mount Hakodate. It took almost ten minutes for the bus to negotiate the winding road of hairpin turns to the 334 meter summit. The original itinerary was to take in the view of the Hakodate Peninsula at the observation deck and ride the aerial cable car back down to Hakodate. However, because of the fierce winds the cable car ropeway was closed. It had been noted in the excursion explanation that if the cable car was not working, that the bus would take the people back down. It was a clear view of the Hakodate Peninsula and surrounding sea. The visibility became hazier by the time we had returned to the ship. It was due to higher humidity.

We had time for a Happy Hour beer and glass of wine before going to dinner where we shared a table with Yettie, who lives in Montréal and her friend Elaine, from Toronto. We went the Rolling Stone Lounge for the Ballroom Dance hour to meet Pat and Pete. Then we walked to the other end of Deck 2 to the theatre to the show featuring the ship‘s dance troupe.

This week is the time that the earth passes through the Liryd Meteor Shower. The Lyrids are associated with Comet Thatcher, a long-period comet that orbits the sun every 415.5 years, it last reached its closest approach to the sun in 1861. The average Lyrid shower produces 15 to 20 meteors per hour. Some historical Chinese texts, have recorded that the shower was seen over 2,500 years ago. The comet is expected to be visible from Earth again in 2276. We climbed up to Deck 10, the jogging track, but there were too many lights and no place to block them out. The wind had diminished and it was about 14° C so having added a sweater and our coats we could have stayed for half an hour to watched the eastern sky about 15 degrees from the horizon.

Total steps today were 19,530

Flights of stairs was 57 but about 14 flights were done in the Goryokaku Tower