I think I may have mentioned that I gave myself a day to just do nothing and this is the place where you can do nothing. Also, it was raining. Yesterday it was fairly warm at 80°+ but not that humid, and today it was cold and rainy. I asked someone about this and they said its usually pretty cool here and the weather yesterday was a fluke. Here’s an example from the afternoon.

I had breakfast in the hotel because I figured this is a relaxation stop, right?

Also, I think the food here is mainly fish but I overdid the fish in Sendai and I wanted to cut back a bit.

I went north today, toward the five-sided fort Goryokaku. Well, I thought iI was going north-ish towards the park but I was actually pretty darn lost. Remember what I said about liking to wander around Japan? I think I should say I like walking around Tokyo because it’s so dense that there’s all sorts of things to see no matter where you go. Here in Hakata I saw house after house interspersed with some abandoned schools and warehouses. Once in a while there’d be a drug store or a grocery store, but mostly it was houses. I dunno but that was pretty darn dull. The weather was mostly on-and-off drizzle and when I was moving around it was just a bit too warm for my long sleeved shirt. But it was just on the edge.

In any case, I finally got to the area I was looking for and I really just wanted to sit down. Fortunately there was a Mister Donut there and I spent some time just sitting and drinking coffee. The sweet potato donut was a little too sweet, I think.

I never did make it into the fort, but I did go to the observation tower nearby. A couple of Aussies going by told me to definitely go up, and luckily it was fairly clear when I did.

When I bought the ticket to go up they gave me a piece of paper that needed three stamps to get a prize. The first stamp was paying to go up the tower. The second was to buy something to eat like, say, a delicious gelato.

The third and final stamp was to buy something from the gift shop. I wandered around the shop for quite some time for two reasons. First, I was looking for something cheap. Second, IT STARTED POURING DOWN RAIN.

I bought a little trinket to finish out the stamp card and for my trouble I got a plastic paper protector with a picture from the War of Hakodate of 150 years ago.

Did I go straight back? Did I just jump in a taxi? No, that wouldn’t be foolish enough. I went walking out in the pouring rain to find a Daiso (the ¥100 store) to buy some more cable ties.

It was kind of fun because the Daiso was in an old-school department store with old lady clothes. It even had a Bunkyodo bookstore. I tried to take a bus back to the station but I waited half an hour and it never came. I finally took a taxi rather than walk any farther (further?) in the rain. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching Rick and Morty, though I did make a return trip to Lucky Pierrot. This time I got the 2nd most popular item, an egg burger (a burger with a fried egg on it) and it was excellent. And what’s with all the guarana drinks in Hokkaido anyway?

THat’s it for today, and pretty much it for Hakodate. Tomorrow I’m off to Noboribetsu.

Oh, and I liked the Onuma Alt much more than the IPA.