Monday, September 29

Hakodate is located at the south end of the island of Hokkaido. Founded in 1454, it is the capital city of the Oshima Subprefecture of Japan.

The first order of business this morning was to clear Japanese Immigration. It was a very high tech process, and they brought lots of agents and equipment on board so things went very quickly. In one door of the Queen’s Lounge, pick up passport and previously filled out Japanese Immigration form. On to an agent who did a quick photo scan of the passport, and checked the form. Then you put your index fingers on another scanner while another piece of the same machine took your photo. Another machine spit out a little card to carry with you while on shore. Then as you left, you handed your passport back to the ship’s personnel...all done in about the same time as it took me to type this!

Neither Jill nor I had booked a tour here, so after lunch we took a free shuttle into downtown. There was a whole bevy of young girls in uniforms waiting at the downtown Information Center. Two of them guided us on a bit of a walk around. We stopped briefly at a place called Hotel Sea Bourne down a side street. It was extremely elegant! Kellie and Paula...if you have someone headed to Hakodate, I
think this would be a lovely place to stay.

The local mascot or official fish of Hakodate is the squid. This photo is of a manhole cover near the Information Center. After our walk, we enjoyed a nice cup of freshly brewed tea in the Information Center and admired works of local artists on the walls. The one thing we never did find was any kind of souvenir shop for postcards and similar items. Oh well...

This evening there was a local folkloric presentation which included a woman dancing then a group singing folk songs and playing samisans. The latter were quite good with the whole group running the gamut of ages from children to grandparents.

Tuesday, September 30

Aomori is situated at the north end of Honshu island, only about 40 miles from Hakodate. There is even a tunnel between the two islands that goes down to 800 feet deep and accomodates the bullet trains. Aomori was founded in 1889 with about 28,000 residents and now has over 300,000. It has been rebuilt twice; once after a big fire in 1910 and again after WWII. This photo is from our ship and shows the spectacular Produce and Tourism Center (ASPAM) and the stunning bridge nearby. The yellow hulled ship on the right is the Memorial Ship Hakkoda-maru.

Like Hakodate, Aomori is a very vey clean and neat city. I walked into downtown and saw not one speck of trash of any kind. I actually walked almost a mile...probably a new record for me since all my joint replacements. Of course it took me a while what with stops to rest, but I think this bodes well for my being able to keep up with the overland tour which begins tomorrow

Sunday, September 28

Yesterday was pretty bouncy also. Fortunately I seldom get even slightly seasick, but it does make me sleepy, so I spent much of the afternoon napping. The evening was yet another formal night...our third since sailing, but they did recommend that women not wear high heels. No problem there as I don’t remember the last time I wore heels!

We had a meeting about the overland trip in Japan in the afternoon. I think that’s going to be do-able for me, and there should be no problem with taking my “chariot” along.

When I woke up this morning things were so smooth and quiet that for a moment I wondered if we were docked at Hakodate! but that’s not until tomorrow. So today is smooth and sunny although the air temperature is still on the cool side.

I’ve met a number of interesting people on board. Today I had lunch with a young woman who is the ship’s Youth Coordinator. There are no youth aboard...at least not on this portion of the trip, so she’s getting a turn at general activities duties. Then there is one elderly gentleman with a strong accent which may be German who is always out on the back deck with his cigars. He and I have had several long conversations on a wide range of topics...I get the impression that he was a physicist before he retired. Oh, and I’ve forgotten to mention the other Mary at our dinner table. She’s from Walla Walla.

Our trivia team consists of myself, Jack who is American, Ann who is his English wife, and Donald and Margaret who are Scots living in Canada. We did fairly well today. So here’s your question of the day: What or who has as its motto “Blood and Fire?” Would you believe the Salvation Army? Yup.

The watercolor class is interesting but rather disorganized. The instructor is a fine artist and probably a fine instructor for smaller groups of people, or perhaps it is the crowded quarters we are working in. However there classes only on days at sea, so it will be awhile before I get to go again.

I haven’t mentioned the food on board...excellent as always on Holland America ships. And the chefs are just as cutesy with their flavor combinations as always. Some of the dishes are way more complicated than most of us at our table really want. At least you can get things with the heavy sauces left off which is what I do most of the time.

Thursday, September 25

No September 24 for us this year...we crossed the International Date Line. Yet another lazy day at sea with the usual modicum of activity: Trivia and Watercolors. The trivia questions on this ship are fiendish! For example, what is the national game of India? Virtually every team said “cricket,” but the correct answer was Parcheesi of all things!

Friday, September 26

The main has been bounding since yesterday evening. At lunchtime today we were heading directly into 14 foot swells and had slowed to 15 knots. I skipped Watercolors today as I didn’t feel like tripping the light fantastic up the stairs to the place where it is held. Two more days at sea before we get to Hakodate, Japan.

Monday, September 22

And a Happy Elephant Appreciation Day to you all! Jill and I celebrated by wearing our EAP buttons all day. Jill passed out peanuts in the shell to all who asked her about hers. This evening at dinner I distributed packets of Virginia peanuts to all at our table along with our waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter. For those who don’t know, Elephant Appreciation Day, September 22, was begun about 15 years ago to celebrate all the good things that elephants have done forr humans over the ages.

I had a relatively busy day. 10:00 a.m. I heard an interesting lecture about “exotic” fabrics from around the world. 11:00 a.m. brought another interesting lecture about Imperial Russian Alaska and the sea otter fur trade. (Dr. Jay Wolfe will be a lecturer for the entire cruise. He’s an expert in history and a frequent commentator for The History Channel. He’s a wonderful speaker who makes history come alive with great stories.) 12:00 was time for Team Trivia (our team didn’t win, but we did better than yesterday) and 1:00 p.m. was the first session of Watercolor Instruction.

Tuesday, September 23

Well, today we have a bit more “ocean motion”...not enough to be a bother, but enough to feel like we’re at sea. Fairly lazy day but I did make it to Team Trivia and Watercolors. I also atended a reunion meeting of passengers from last year’s Grand South America and Antarctica cruise. I knew I’d seen several familiar faces this year, but it seems like there are 49 of us on board! Not all came to the “reunion,” but many did. Of course the first thing we did was swap stories about the big wave in Drake’s Passage!

Friday, September 19

Ah! On board at last! In my cabin surrounded by suitcases not yet unpacked. But the life boat drill is over and there’s nothing to do for the next 9 days but relax and get used to the ship while we cross the Pacific to Hakodate, Japan.

My flight from Virginia went smoothly as did the transfer from the airport to the hotel. The Fairmont Olympic is an historic hotel in downtown Seattle with a great deal of Georgian architecture and ornamentation. My room was quite comfortable and spacious.

Yesterday evening I had dinner with my cousin, Hunter, and his wife, Patricia, who live here. They took me to a great Italian restaurant where they often dine. The owner greeted all three of us with great glee and Italian effusiveness. Hunter and Patricia have just returned from three weeks in Italy, including several places recommended by the restaurant owner, so there was a good deal of talk about those places as they caught him up on their travels. We had a truly delicious dinner and a lovely visit. As always, other people’s children and now grandchildren tend to grow up on me when I’m not looking. Hunter’s first grandchild, Evan, is suddenly ten years old! Not only that, but his brother Nathaniel (Nate) is five, and I’d never even heard about him! (Note to self: keep in better touch!)

This morning I met a member of my Haiku Special Interest Group (SIG) for breakfast at the hotel. Mike Leake has been a member for quite a while, and has coordinated most of our recent Rengas-by-Mail. He lives in Issaquah and works in downtown Seattle. We ate in the hotel’s gorgeous Georgian dinning room...very high, wide, and handsome...must have been a ballroom at one time. Our enjoyable conversation ranged from haiku to history along with a dozen or two other topics. An auspicious start to boarding day!

The boarding process went very smoothly. As our cabins were not yet ready, I headed up to the Lido deck and found Jill just where I thought she would be. We had lunch and chatted until almost 2:00 p.m. when we strolled off to find our cabins. We are each on the port side of Lower Promenade deck, not too far apart. What I have seen so far of the ms Amsterdam is conveniently laid out and beautifully decorated as are all the Holland America ships. It’s quite familiar as it is the sister ship of the ms Maasdam on which I sailed last November.

After reading through assorted information on shore tours, I took myself off to the Shore Excursion Office to consult about both the ones I had already booked and several others I wanted to book. I wound up cancelling an all-day tour in Bangkok which included a lunch where you have to sit on the floor Japanese style. I have no intention of voluntarily putting my body at floor or ground level again in this life, so nix on that tour. I also cancelled a pedi-cab tour in Da Nang, Viet Nam when it was explained that one has to be able to hoist oneself pretty high off the ground to get into the thing...also not in my physical lexicon any more. Lastly, I have cancelled the land tour to Xi’an and Beijing due to the extreme amount of walking involved. The young man who was helping me said that he was exhausted after doing that tour last year...ooookay, fine! I did book a fistful of other tours which you will hear about as I take them.

Now to do a bit of unpacking before dinner. Later, y’all.

Saturday, September 20

I spent the majority of the day unpacking and recovering from jet lag (aka “sleeping”). Thus I missed the first bexcitement of the trip. Ship’s rumor reports that a woman who was traveling alone was discovered in her cabin paralyzed on one side (sounds like a stroke to me). Anyway, the ship turned around and headed back toward North America until it could rendevous with a plane from the Canadian Coast Guard which circled us until a CCG rescue helicopter could arrive. A paramedic and basket were then lowered to the front deck then hoisted back up with the woman aboard. After that we turned around and again headed for Hakodate.

According to what I can see on the display of the ship’s position, we are nnot going anywhere near the Aleutian Islands. Ship’s rumor also has it that the reason that we are not going to Petropavlosk in Russia is that the last Holland America ship that stopped there was not cleared by Russian Customs for people to go ashore until six hours after arrival. When you only have nine or ten in port, cutting six off is a definite no-go...especially when they still had to pay the tour operators on shore.

Sunday, September 21

The Pacific Ocean has been living up to its name...pacific...smooth as glass! Outside weather is chilly and mostly cloudy although the sun breaks through on occasion.

This morning I signed up for Watercolor Instruction every sea day at 1:00 p.m. Should be interesting and fun. Later I joined a Trivia Team which also meets on sea days...also fun.

This evening is the first formal night. Maybe our “missing” tablemates will turn up. Jill and I are at a table for eight, but have only met three others so far: Mary from Seattle, Phyllis from Phoenix, and Josie from Edmonton, Alberta. It’s going to be a good group, even if no one else shows up. Harvey and some of his family of pookahs may board in Japan to fill the empty seats...we’ll see.

I’ve also just discovered that I can access the ship’s wireless network from my cabin. This is excellent since I won’t have to haul my laptop up to one of the public areas to do e-mail and the blog.

I just learned that the itinerary has changed and we will not be visiting Petropavlosk in Russia. I don't know why. Instead, we will visit Aomori, Japan. I have updated the itinerary posted earlier.

One week from today I leave home on this great adventure! My two big suitcases preceded me today, headed to Seattle by FedEx. So I have a week to gather my wits and the other bits and pieces that will go with me on the plane.

The first acorn drops...
Thunk! The leaves will drop also
before I return.