Finishing Up... Moving On...
It should be a “note to self” when a port stop has limited excursion options and nothing can be found googling for “must see” locations. Days ago, I decided I would skip this port… then FOMO kicked in and I took the bait. Jumping on the ship shuttle, I headed into town thinking I would be dropped off near all the “sights”. Well… there was this canal…
At the top of the short list of “must see” locations was this “brick building”. Thinking that our first port stop of Hakodate had some interesting shops in old brick warehouse, I took the bait and headed for the building. Slightly embarrassed to admit, I walked quite a bit out of my way to find it… this was it. This was all. Thank goodness I didn’t order a taxi to see it!!!
What saved my effort was happening upon a festival. There were a few food booths that only excepted yen so I searched until I found something I could afford and that was okay for me to eat. This little booth was the spot! A tortilla like outside that was made of smashed up and fried vegetables. Rounded into a burrito, it was filled with shrimp. Not realizing until the end that it wasn’t a burrito on a stick, it was a stuffed veggie pancake on chopsticks! The idea was to use the chopsticks to eat the meal… I figured it out with two bites remaining.
Not realizing the erupting volcano/mountain could be seen from this bridge, I simply took photos of it because I liked the arches. It was definitely a busy bridge, especially with a festival in town.
Timing was perfect because I was able to catch a group of dancing school boys. Dancing the traditional Ohara-Bushi dance. There was quite a crowd gathered!
With only one port left that I didn’t leave the ship, I figured I would share my favorite crew members! First, Vinay, on the left. From the moment I boarded, he had my back! Having met initially on the Ruby Princess, it was great to see him again and took all of my fears away when I boarded as a solo cruiser. In the middle, Alejandro also from Ruby Princess. This is the second photo I’ve taken with him… he was the one I joked with and took a photo on his first day about Ruby. He will soon be leaving Diamond and heading to South Africa, instead of his home in Italy. He will be marrying his girlfriend! On the right… Abdul. Very sweet, he worked mainly in the Good Spirits bar. Always remembered my drink, always a warm and friendly guy. These three made my cruise!
My new friend, Kay, is a colorful being… while I wore many shades of black, she had every color under the rainbow in her attire. Often work together, she stood out… so many compliments over her colorful and happy clothes! On this particular day, she wore these boots. We spent quite a bit of time taking photos of people secretly admiring her choice of shoes. They were definitely pretty special!
One of the many admirers of these special boots. While on this trip, Kay bought furry cardigans, furry purses and some other beautiful items to compliment her bright attire!
One evening, I joined Jo and Kay for dinner in the main dining room. Already full, Kay decided to have her dessert packed up to eat in her cabin. Jo headed to bed and we decided to stop for a nightcap. Seeing the bartenders preparing to close, Kay asked if she could take the milk that was being put away. She wanted it to go with her dessert. It struck me as humorous so…hence the photo!
This cruise was more than I could have ever imagined… the port stops were perfect, the ship itself was friendly and efficient. Best of all, I met new friends that will be in my life for a while. I am pretty sure Kay and I will meet up in the future! Now it’s time to move on to meet up with Barry and explore.
