Hakodate, Hokkaido Trip (Day 8)

18th May 2019, Saturday

Toast with hot chocolate

Coffee cake

Live Squid

Grilled Scallop

Today, we just planned to have a relax day in the city since we had not been driving even since we reached Hakodate. So we got ready and walked back to Misuzu Coffee cafe for our breakfast. This time, we ordered toast and a coffee cake. We even bought more coffee powder to bring home. After that, we walked to Hakodate Morning Market. This time, we decided to have a try to fish the squid. So we queued for our turn and i tried to fish a squid. It feel weird to try to fish out the squid as you can feel the pressure from the squid but it took me some time to fish out the squid. And once the squid was fished out, it spilled out water as an attack. We took photos with the squid happily and gave the squid to the stall owner. The lady inside then cut the squid alive in front of us. The head was actually still moving while the lady cut its body into slices. After that, she passed us the prepared squid for our consumption. We also ordered a grilled scallop from the opposite stall. The squid was super fresh and nice to eat. You have to try it at least once. We also bought 2 slices of honey drew for 700 yen, it was still verry sweet.

Sausages Set

Carl Raymon Exhibit

Some items left by Carl Raymon

After that, we walked to Carl Raymon Cottage to buy the sausages. We also ordered some sausages to try in the place. It was also yummy, so my friend bought some of the sausages home but we were worried to over-buy and not allowed to bring back. Plus, it had to be keep cool. So we bought a small quantity. They even had the service to ship your purchases back if you were planning to buy large quantity. Then, we went upstairs to have a short visit on the museum regarding Carl Raymon. We even left a note on the board as an appreciation. Then we made our way up to Mount Hakodate Ropeway station as the sky was quite clear today. So we decided not to miss the chance to see the view on the summit. We bought our tickets for ropeway to go up to the summit from the ticketing machine. There were many people going up too.

Summit view

Does it look like a whale's tail?

Mount Hakodate Sign

It was really breath-taking when we reached the summit, it was said that the Hakodate landscape looked like a whale's tail and it was a million-dollar view when you view it in the night. However, we missed to view it at night but we enjoyed the view as much as in the day time. We stayed up there for some time and had our mini picnic there with the corn we bought in the market and other snacks. After that, we left the summit and walked back to restaurants place where we had our ramen last night. There was a public foot-bath somewhere there, so we decided to have a warm foot-bath before we go for our special dinner (which my friend made an reservation before flying over). We took a whole good 20 mins to relax ourselves there.

Public foot-bath

Uni Murakami entrance

Tempura Rice

Sea urchin Rice Bowl

Sea urchin gratin

Grilled mackerel

Once we are done with the foot bath, we headed to our dinner place, Uni Murakami which was located in the Hakodate Market (in fact, it was just beside the place we had the ice cream the other day). And the restaurant building looked small from outside and the name was in Japanese. We didn't know we reached the correct place until we went in to check with the staffs. Anyway, we were brought to the table and were told we only had a 1-hour dining time. So we didn't waste any time and made our orders. The food items on the menu looked amazing and yummy. They were famous for their sea urchin and of course, we had to order their specialities to try. The food was really yummy and the sea urchin...ahhh...yummy...covered with cheese on top (i don't normally eat urchin). We had a great and wonderful dinner there...so heavenly (prepare to pay more for the uni here)...And the staffs were kind of rushing us to finish our meal as they were having other reserved guests coming soon.

Octopus Post Box outside JR station

After that, we headed to Hakodate JR station and explored around as it was still early. There wasn't much to shop there except we got to have the station's stamps before we left. Then we walked slowly back to the hotel as we will have to hit the road to our next destination, Lake Toya.

Places visited:
Misuzu Coffee Daimon Branch
Hakodate Morning Market
Carl Raymon Cottage
Mount Hakodate Ropeway Station
Mount Hakodate
Uni Murakami (Address: Otemachi 22-1, Hakodate-shi, Hokkaido)
Hakodate JR Station

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Paco Hakodate

Hakodate, Hokkaido Trip (Day 7)

17th May 2019, Friday

Today, we just planned to explore more in Hakodate city as we found there were more to see in the city. We woke up slightly late and got ready to explore the city again. We actually planned to have our breakfast in Hakodate Morning Market again, but when we were walking towards there, we got drawn by coffee smell from a cafe. But it wasn't opened yet but it was 10 mins before the cafe opened. So we decided to wait for the cafe to open for our breakfast. It was really cold standing outside while waiting but we were so excited with it. There was a couple of people who also came early to buy their coffee from the cafe.

Available Coffee Beans

Roast Machine

Our Wonderful Breakast

Finally the cafe opened its door and off we went in. The cafe's name is Misuzu Coffee, they do sell coffee beans (by weight) and they will roost the seeds for you. You can even request them to grind it into powder. We took a look on their menu and ordered a breakfast set that was curry rice. There were many cakes available too. We ordered coffee, hot chocolate and a cake too. The hot chocolate was nice (but this was the only place i got to drink hot chocolate so far)...lol....but i like it...We also bought some coffee beans to bring back home.. My friend even bought a coffee-flavoured ice cream to go...She can't get enough of their coffee...hahahaa....

Cakes in Snaffles

Mini Store

Dried Fishes

Available Food Products in the store

After the breakfast, we walked towards Hakodate-Meijikan, Hakodate's old Post Office which was now a shopping mall. Along the way, we passed by Snaffles and went in to buy their mini cheesecakes and pudding. After that, we continued walking and ended up a mini store where it was selling all sorts of dried fishes and even crabs. We went curious and went into the shop to check the fishes. The store auntie was quite friendly and introduced us the dried fishes. She even let us try out the fishes (tara and kamari) before buying. The dried fishes were actually quite nice. My friend had a great time shopping the fishes and she even asked the lady how to cook the fishes. Of course, she bought a couple of the dried fishes to bring home. We were also surprised the auntie was still using the manual weighing scale...The lady even showed us how they use the weighing scale...think the auntie was also having a good laugh with us although she can't understand English well.

Hakodate Beer & Potato Croquettes

Cute Musical Box

Ancient Musical Box

Introduction

After that, we continued walking and we saw Hakodate Beer building. So we decided to go in to try their beer and food. We ordered potato croquettes and a peach beer to try. The croquettes weren't that impressive. After that, we hit the road again and continued walking towards Hakodate-Meijikan. We finally reached the place without stopping for food again. There was a square in the central of the mall where there was a performance by playing music using ancient musical boxes. The performance times were set daily. So we waited for the performance to start and the shop lady will do an introduction on the musical instruments in Japanese. She showed the musical disc (like our music CDs except hers was very big and contained only 1 song). She then put the disc into the instrument and started to play the music. The performance lasted about 15 mins.

Curry Rice

Salad

Skewer

After that, we went shopping at the shops around the area. Later, we decided to visit Hachimanzaka Zaka slope and Russian Orthodox Church. So we walked towards the church area. It was quite a distance away from where we were. After some time, we stumbled upon a turkish restaurant named Pazar Bazar before the slope going up Hachimanzaka. The smell of the curry was drawing us into the restaurant. Since we haven't eaten our lunch, we decided to give it a try. There was no other customers except us as it was almost 3 plus. We had curry rice set (which included a salad) and grilled chicken on skewer. The food was quite nice except my friend preferred the Misuzu Coffee over the coffee here.

Higashi HonganJi Temple

Carl Raymon Cottage

Hachimanzaka Zaka slope

 After lunch, we continued to climb a very steep slope up to see the Hachimanzaka Zaka slope and churches. First stop, we arrived at Higashi HonganJi Temple (Hakodate Branch). Inside the temple, it was very quiet. However, the door was quite low and my friend had a hard hit on her head when she exited the temple...kekeke....When we came out from the temple, we caught the attention of a cottage looking building opposite and it was like calling to us to go in which we did. What we found in the building was that it was selling sausages under a brand named Carl Raymon. They were selling a lot of different sausages there and you can even order sausages to eat in the store. So we decided to come back tomorrow morning for our breakfast as we were full from our lunch. After that, we continued up the slope and reached Hachimanzaka Zaka Slope. We took some photos on top of the slope and continued walking towards the churches. There were a couple of churches around the area.

Roman Catholic Church

Russian Orthodox Church

Episcopal Church of Japan Hakodate Episcopal Church

The first church we visited was Roman Catholic Church, it was huge and there was a tree with no leaves standing in front of the church (like in those vampire movies)....hahaha... We went into the church to have a look and of course we had to remove our shoes and wear the slippers provided. After that, we wen to the next church - Russian Orthodox Church. The building was white and beautiful. The bell sound can be heard around the area too and it only sounded at certain times. After that, we went to Episcopal Church of Japan Hakodate Episcopal Church. The uniqueness of this church was that the building was built in a cross-shaped. We didn't managed to have a look into as the church was closed. After that, we made our way to Mount Hakodate Ropeway station.

Mount Hakodate Roepway

Mount Hakodate Radio Station

Weather condition streaming

Inside the station, there was a mini radio station where you can see the radio dj having the broadcast live. Also, there was also a monitor to show the live steaming of the weather conditions on top of Mount Hakodate. Unfortunately, the fog was very heavy on the summit and nothing can be seen. My friend asked the staff if the fog would be cleared later in the evening. The lady told us that it can be hard to say, however she suggested us to check the weather condition through the website. So we decided to try again tomorrow if the fog can be cleared. So we walked back to Red Bricks Warehouse there and went for a bay cruise under Blue Moon (wasn't cheap). It was a 1-hr cruise and the wind was blowing very strongly, it was also foggy even out in the sea. The sky got dark by the time we came back from the cruise.

Cruise tickets

Warship at the port

Fog and more fog

Our cruise

Pork Ramen

Spicy Ramen

Daimon Yokocho Entrance

Eating Alley

Later, we had our dinner at Ajisai Ramen where we ordered a non-spicy ramen and a spicy ramen. However, we found the ramen so-so but the place was quite packed with customers. After that, we walked to Daimon Yokocho, an eating alley. Coincidentally, the entrance was just behind Misuzu Coffee (the one we went in the morning). The alley was quite quiet with the restaurants there. But we were full with the earlier dinner, so we ended up not trying any of the restaurants. Therefore, we went back to the hotel to rest as we had a long day.

Places visited:
Misuzu Coffee Daimon Branch (Address: Hokkaido Hakodateshi Matsukazechou 7-1)
Hakodate Beer
Hakodate-Meijikan
Pazar Bazar (Address: 17-19 Suehirocho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0053, Japan)
Higashi HonganJi Temple
Carl Raymon Cottage (Address: 3-92, Suzuran’oka-cho, Hakodate-shi, Hokkaido)
Hachimanzaka Zaka slope
Roman Catholic Church
Russian Orthodox Church
Episcopal Church of Japan Hakodate Episcopal Church
Mount Hakodate Ropeway Station
Ajisai Ramen (Address: 12-7 Toyokawa-cho, Hakodate)
Daimon Yokocho

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Paco Hakodate

Hakodate, Hokkaido Trip (Day 5)

15th May 2019, Wednesday

Grassland in Yakumo

Hotel Car Park

Today, we are leaving Nooribetsu and heading down to Hakodate. It is going to be a long journey as the road trip is going to be 4 hours long. We packed our luggage and checked out the hotel. Then we hit the road, and went onto the expressway. There was few cars on the road and most of the cars were driving at faster speed than us. We decided to stop at the last stop point, which happened to be Yakumo and had a rest as i had been driving for around 2 hours plus. At the stop point, we bought some milk, puddings and some snacks before hitting the road again. We managed to reach our hotel in Hakodate safely and parked the car at the parking lot provided by the hotel. However, we were unable to check in the hotel when we arrived and so we left our luggage at the hotel and headed out to explore the city.

Lucky Pierrot Set

Lucky Egg Burger

Chinese Chicken Burger

In-house Soda Drink

We decided to head to the nearest Lucky Pierrot branch, which the hotel staff recommended us to go for a try. It is the fast food chain only in Hakodate and it is not available elsewhere. We just walked to the destination as i wanted a break from the driving. Plus, i can take photos and enjoy the view as i walked. It was a 10 mins walk from the hotel and luckily there wasn't a queue at the fast food restaurant. So we were able to get an available table and ordered our food. We ordered their top 2 recommended burgers and a cup of fries. The chicken burger (top 1st) was super yummy, the chicken meat was very juicy. The number 2 burger was with hamburger steak and a sunny side up egg. It was also very yummy. There were other burgers available and curry rices too. They even have their own kind of soda drinks (quite weird).

Mashu maru

Seats in the ship

Ship Crew's uniforms

Musical boxes with different designs

Inside shops

Pudding and Cheesecake Set

Exterior of Red Bricks Warehouse

After lunch, we headed further down to have a walk and we ended up visiting a ship museum named Mashu maru near the port. It was an old ship where it was now used as a museum to showcase the inner of the ship and the history of the ship. We had to pay a small entrance fee to enter the ship to view the exhibition inside. The ship was big and a lot of collection to view. After that, we walked toward the Red Bricks Warehouse. There were many shops to see and many food products to buy too. There was even a big shop selling musical boxes with different design. There were wooden types too and all the boxes were very beautiful. So we ended up spending long time in the shop and buying 3 musical boxes from the shop. We also bought some anime socks and toys plus a pudding set and we walked till almost 7 plus. There were 2 more Lucky Pierrot branches around too (You can visit the different branches as the shop themes are different in every branch).

Horsan Ramen Entrance

Dry version

Soup version

Beds and TV

Dinning and Cooking area

After that, we went to try noodles from a popular noodle restaurant named Horsan Ramen. The place was quite small, we ordered a dry and a soup version of the noodles. The noodles tasted like our hor fan style. The noodles was quite cheap too, less than 1000 jap yen. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel but it was quite cold as we walked. We managed to get our room key from the counter and went up to our room. It was a mini apartment with two beds, in the living room and there was a cooking area too. There was washing machine in the toilet area too and a bathtub. Finally, we can rest for the day and of course, i had my pudding that was bought at the stop point today...yum yum...

Places visited:
Lucky Pierrot
Mashu Maru
Red Bricks Warehouse
Horsan Ramen

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Paco Hakodate