We checked out of the hotel this morning, hoping to get back some of the 13650 yen deposit I made yesterday at the hotel. Nope, it really WAS 13000 yen. Big suck, since the guide book said it was 10000. We went to the station, and this time the shopping areas were open. Dozens of people were there now, and shop clerks were barking out their wares. We were handed a patty-like mochi (soft, doughy pastry) that was warm and filled with something like sweet potato. It was really yummy!
Around the corner, we found one panya, but skipped it in hopes of finding another one that was better. There were tons of restaurants down here (the station underground), too bad they weren't open yesterday. Realistically we would have eaten wanko soba anyway though. We headed back to the panya, and Molly got food. Back upstairs we stopped for a bentoo for me and drinks from a store nearby. We got tickets for a 10:19 train to Hakodate, then headed down to the track. I read that it was on track 8, but when we got downstairs, I noticed it was on track 3. Seems there were two trains that were at 10:19, which they're usually good about not doing. Checked the train number, and it was indeed on track 3. We headed up the stairs to the train, where we headed to car 1, which I had read off the ticket. There was a huge line of people waiting to get on. We stood in line for about 10 seconds until Molly pointed out it was ROW 1, car 8. Doh! We headed to the exact opposite end of the train. The line we were standing in by car 1 was for unreserved seats.
We got on the train bound for Hakodate; it should have taken 4 hours or so. We rode for about two hours, then at one of the scheduled stops, we sat for a very long time. The announcer came on several times saying something about the doors not closing correctly and it would just be a moment more. After about 20 minutes, the doors closed and we continued on. We passed through
Misawa, where my friend Gene was stationed for six months until just recently. At every stop after that, the announcer apologized for the "terrible event that occured" since the train was late. We hit the long tunnel to Hiroshima about 3 hours in, traversing one of the world's longest undersea tunnels. ("Tell em we went in a tunnel under the 
PACIFIC OCEAN!" says Molly.) We came out of the tunnel, and Molly got her first glimpses of Hokkaido.
We finally got close about 3PM ( we were supposed to arrive at 2:30) and lots of people on the train got up. We got ready too, and when the train stopped, we were about to get off when I realized it didn't look right. We were one stop early. We waited until the next stop, then got off in the correct place. The wind was blowing, so it was pretty darn cold. After exiting the gate, I called the
Hakodate Plaza Hotel, listed in the guide book. They're pretty reasonable at 7800 yen for a twin room. They also have semi-doubles, but none were available. The easiest way to get there is to take the left side of the street that leads perpendicularly away from the station (directly out in front of the front doors past the taxis) and turn left on the very next street. The hotel is on the right about two blocks down. When we walked in the door, a man and a woman were standing at the front desk waiting for us. I was almost totally out of cash, and they wouldn't take my Visa. I started scrolling through my cards, and they took AMEX, go figure. It's like an inversed Visa ad.
The rooms are dated, but it's the biggest one we've stayed in so far. It's almost the size of a normal US hotel room. Even has two chairs and a little table. We quickly ran out the door, as it was rapidly approaching 4PM, and a lot of things close early. Headed back to the station, and then took the street off to the left of it, where the seafood market is. We walked this street for a while, passing the
Niceday Inn and 
Hakodate Beer, a local brew pub. Next to it was a building with 
50's looking drawings of American people on it. Funky.
We went through the
Hakodate Factory, a souvenier place with lots and lots of delicious looking seafood; well, delicious for me anyway. :) I kept going "mmmm, squid," and Molly would reply, "how can you EAT that thing, it's nasty." "Mmmmm squid," I replied.
Followed the street next to the Factory towards the water. We hung a left there, and headed over a small bridge to the
wharf district, which is very touristy, but very nice indeed. Molly keeps singing this song all the time we keep hearing. "A-shi-ta ga aru, a-sh-ita ga aru, a-shi-ta ga a-a-ru saaa." It's driving me nuts. :) We walked past a number of restaurants, and in to the second Hakodate Factory shop, where my quest to Hakodate would be fulfilled.
There they were, shining bags of glorious seafoody goodness. Cellophane packets of snacking happiness. Barbecued squid rings. The BEST IN THE WORLD, available only in Hakodate. I grabbed three bags and headed to the cashier, my heart filled with joy beyond words. I used my last remaining 1000 yen bills to pay for them, at 500 yen a pop. I cannot tell you how long I've been waiting for this moment. :)
We headed out towards the ropeway, which was a medium walk away. Molly's toes were freezing, so she took the backpack in an effort to a) warm up her back and b) make her work harder walking up hills to hopefully warm up. We headed up the steep hills to the base of
Mt. Hakodate, which overlooks the city. The snow made it treacherous, but not too bad. We arrived at the ropeway just behind a tour group. I didn't see a ticket place or vending machine, but Molly pointed out that everyone seemed to already have tickets. To the right were three windows I didn't notice before. I bought two round trip tickets (1240 yen apiece, which is not good due to the severe low level of funds) and we rode the crowded ropeway up to the top of the mountain. Molly pointed out that it probably wasn't the best plan to come up here at night, but after she saw the view, changed her mind. The 
lights of Hakodate form a U shape on both sides, which is absolutely wonderful. Molly used the restroom, and noted the funky hand dryers that you stick your hands in and air blows on them. We headed up the stairs to the outside, and took in a few minutes of the (cold) lovely view. Molly wasn't feeling very well at that point, so we headed back inside to the return ropeway line.
The way down was way more crowded than before, and we were shoulder to shoulder against everyone. Molly was freaking out. We quickly exited the ropeway at the bottom, and headed down the big hill to the bottom. At points we used the handrail because it was really icy. At the base of the hill was a long street that had tram tracks in it. We turned right, and after looking at the guide book map, confirmed that this was the main street through Hakodate. We followed it back for about 20 minutes until we got to the train station, turned right on the perpendicular road, then left by the Wako department store. We passed the hotel and followed the road to the light where catty-corner was a Lawson's. We got food, including a frozen udon I figured I could use the hot plate in the room to heat up. We dropped the money in the tray, but the woman didn't take it - apparently I miscounted and was 5 yen short. Molly added the 5 yen, and embarrassed we walked out the door.
Back in the hotel, I realized the hot plate wouldn't work; it was too small, wouldn't work unless there was pressure on it (and had a lip so the metal bowl wouldn't sit directly on it), and it was timed. We ended up sitting the tin in hot water in the sink to finally warm it up to edible levels. On TV in the hotel was a variety show where different groups of people performed little sketches or feats and got judged at the end. Looks like it was a battle between adults and "young" - teenagers - since the end totaled up each of their scores and the adults won. Different groups had women changing clothes 30 some odd times, each one in less than 2 seconds (they'd go behind things and emerge in a new outfit), a guy doing hula hoops on different limbs, girls doing magic tricks, a dance group that had a wood plate on their butts and kicked themselves with wooden shoes to make noise, and some Cirque de Soleil wanna-be's doing rope tricks. It looked like one of the requirements of this thing was to have never done this before, so they had all practiced like mad at whatever it was they learned. It was pretty entertaining.
We finally went to bed after uploading a few logs. I can just pull the phone jack out of any of the phones here it looks like, so uploading should be easy from now on. Plus Earthlink has local dialups everywhere, and doesn't seem to charge for it, either. Rock on.
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This morning, I got up moderately early and showered and went out by myself. I really wanted to go to the
seafood market near the station. Molly didn't have any interest, so she stayed in and read. It had snowed last night, so the roads were covered in fresh snow. I headed to the street to the left of and slightly behind the station (while facing it) and one block down were all the stands. Each stand was primarily selling 
crabs, and tons of them at that. Prices ranged from 4000 yen for a smallish crab to 10000 or more for a big snow crab. Each place was also grilling or steaming a crab to let prospective clients taste. As I was not likely to buy a 
crab, they didn't offer me any. I wandered for a bit, and found a place closer to the sea that had a few pieces on styrofoam mats that appeared to be selling for 700 yen. At first I thought they were selling them raw, so I moved on, then came back and said I wanted to try the crab, and she showed me that they grilled them. I picked out two legs, and she put them on the grill while I went inside the tiny eating area. Another couple was eating half a sea urchin and a bit of crab. They were also videotaping their meal, and as I overheard from their conversation with the woman who ran the place (whom they also called okaasan), they were from Sapporo. I got my crab and she asked if it was good. I told her it was sweet, and it really was! So delicious. I slowly nibbled on my crab and she asked me where I was from. I told her Texas in America, and that it was usually warm there so this place was cold. She said it was particularly cold right now, too. She pulled out a drawing board and had me sign it with where I was from et al. She said when it was full (it was almost full) she'd peg it up on the wall, along with the others that were already there. I wrote in Japanese, too, and they were very impressed. I took their 
picture, paid the 700 yen, and headed back to the hotel.
We're getting ready to go sightseeing today, then off to Sapporo, although we might stop at Shikotsu-Toya National Park for a quick look-see.
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Molly and I checked out of the hotel, paid the phone charges, and left our big bag with the people at the front desk. Hotels seem to be glad to check your bag after you check out of the hotel so you can go sightseeing.
We headed out into the cold, freshly snowed area, on a mission to go sightseeing as well as get money. At the station, Molly tried to call her parents, who weren't there, but she got to talk to Devin. We went to the information counter to the left of the station where I asked if there was an international ATM around anywhere. The man who helped us at first gave us an english map of the area, then passed us off to the woman who worked there and who had just finished with a Japanese couple. He explained to her what we were looking for and she looked concerned. She explained that there were several ATMs we might use, however, they were all closed because of New Year's. She also said that all the banks for money exchange were also closed until tomorrow. Suck. We walked back into the station to try the only ATM that was open (despite her telling us it wouldn't work) and tried it. Sure enough, it only spit my card back out. We stopped over for breakfast at a panya, and ate it in the station.
We headed back out, in hopes that randomly we'd find somewhere to change money along the way. We walked up the main street towards the ropeway, as the Russian Orthodox church was nearby. A long, 25 minute walk later, we arrived at the main street we went up yesterday, a brick divided road that headed up to the ropeway area. It began snowing hard while we walked up the hill, and by the time we reached the top, Molly's hood was full of snow. We turned right instead of left to the ropeway, and a Catholic church was directly in front of us. When we reached it, we turned left again and headed up the
hill in front of us. On the left was the 
Episcopalian Church, and on the right was the 
Russian orthodox church. According to the guide book, Hakodate was one of the first ports to open to the west, so many foreigners settled here. Hence all the religious locations. By the time we got to the two churches, we were in a near 
blizzard. Snow was pouring down so hard we couldn't see the mountain anymore, despite us being at the base! At the top of the hill was a small shrine; a man next to it asked us to take his picture. He spoke excellent english, and when Molly complimented him on it, he said he had just gotten out of school. We took his picture, then he returned the 
favor. We walked up to the top of the hill, decided we couldn't go anywhere else, and turned around. We said hello again to the man and walked carefully back 
down. As we passed the church again, another couple asked us to take their picture. Molly took it, they thanked us, and we continued back towards the station. It was freezing, and the snow wouldn't let up. For a while, we had to walk with our heads down because the wind and snow was too much for our faces. It was totally 
crazy!
We arrived back at the hotel a while later, and asked the woman at the desk for our bag. She attempted to bring it out of the back room but it was too heavy. I lifted it out myself, and she apologized like crazy. At that time she also asked us where we were from, and then asked how you said 'turn left' in English. She asked me also "turn right", "ropeway", and a few other things. I told her, and she thanked me. As we were getting ready, I asked her if there was anything else. She asked what "you can't use a Visa card here" was, and I wrote it down for her. I finally decided I would give her my business card and email address and told her if she wanted a pen pal or had any questions she could write me. She gave me her email address and told us her name, Takada Yuriko. She was very nice, and we thanked her immensely when we left.
On the way back to the station, Molly pointed out some
really freaky boots with huge tall soles in a department store window. People actually *wear* these! At the station, we attempted to get tickets for the train. The man asked if we wanted jiyuuseki (unreserved seats) and I nodded before realizing this is not what I wanted. I couldn't remember the word for reserved seats (shiteiseki) so I had to look it up in the guidebook. After I said it, he said there were no more reserved seats, so only the unreserved were available. We walked out and decided if we wanted to go to Tooyako, we could go tomorrow morning, since the guide book said it was only 1.5 hours by train.
Molly really wanted Baskin Robbins, which was part of the panya, so we got her a scoop of mint chocolate chip in a cone. There really wasn't anything good to eat, so we hurried to the train in hopes of getting a good seat. As we raced, Molly pointed out that she's nuts; eating ice cream in freezing weather with snow everywhere is insane! :)
We got on the first car (smoking car) and dropped off our bag in a luggage spot between cars, then reversed back to car two, the unreserved non-smoking car. It was already pretty full, but I managed to find a seat for both of us. Molly sat next to some guy, and I sat next to a nice woman two rows back. As it turned out, she was *very* nice and we had a very long conversation about a number of things. She was from Hakodate and was headed to Sapporo to see her daughter and her two grandchildren ( I think one was new, but I'm not sure). She also got bumped to the non-reserved seats. I showed her all the pictures we had taken so far, plus the videotape of Texas. I demonstrated the GPS which she thought was very neat. She also gave me the reading for "money exchange" which I really needed (ryoogae). After a while, the train got very crowded, so much so that there were even people standing in the aisle between stops. It took about 1.5 hours to get to Tooyako from Hakodate as expected. However, it was almost three hours more before we actually arrived at Sapporo! Damn you, guide book. Molly was freaking out as much as I was. The woman next to me fell asleep, and it was very, very boring. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we arrived at Sapporo. Everyone got off as it was the last stop, and I said goodbye to the nice woman. We headed to the front of the car, where I retrieved the bag and off the train we went, penniless but very happy to be off the train.
-- hik