Oct. 2, 2018 Otaru,Japan

Otaru (Sapporo) Japan is where I woke up this morning. I went to the buffet and ate my usual breakfast and visited with LeeAnne, a lady who lives in Langley, about 20 kms from my home. She had finished her breakfast and was knitting a grandson a scarf. Then Wilemina, another solo cruiser came and joined us. She’s the lady i had chatted with while dining at ChinChins over a week ago and i hadn’t seen her around again until today. She said she still eats there a lot. I then wandered around for awhile. Wandering is always interesting on a ship especially when you have plans but have to wait for something. For some reason we can't disembark whenever we want to in this port but have to wait until our deck number is called for disembarking and i thought I had tons of time. At one point i wasn’t able to use the elevators because they had signs on them “only for Haven guests” and I was directed down a secret hallway that I hadn’t even known was there. It took me into O'Sheehans restaurant and so i decided to have lunch since i was there.

The waitress led me to a table and Joe, an 83 yr old man who i’ve sat with in the buffet was alone at the next table and he waved and beckoned me over so i went and sat with him. He was eating a bowl of soup which he said was good so i ordered a bowl. The broth was ok but the veggies in it were quite raw. This is becoming a theme on this ship with the al dente pastas and veggies. So i ate the soup and ordered fish and chips which i didn’t enjoy because the fish had been cooked so long the meat had all but disappeared and the fries were tasteless. It was terrible for an English pub/restaurant to serve such crap and i won’t bother eating there again. Then my deck number was called so i said goodbye to Joe and beat it on down and got in the very very long lineup. I thought if it went fast i’d be ok but soon realized it wasn’t even moving. My roommate Annie came along and she said she'd been looking for me. She and her friends Scott and Alida had been in the lineup for a long time and had worked their way to the front of the ship and she said to follow her and i’d be able to join them. I followed her even though i was wondering how they could have made such headway since our deck had just been called. Anyway, i'm glad i did i as it saved me from all that standing which i really couldn’t have done so i was very grateful. There was a line of taxi’s outside and I hopped into one and an interpreter asked me where i wanted to go and i said a mall, preferably one with a hand made paper shop. So off i go to the mall which turned out to be about 6 city blocks away, maybe. The price of the ride was 560 yen on the meter so i gave the driver a 1000 yen bill and he gave me back a bunch of change and i don’t know if that was fair and correct or if i got ripped off. I didn't remember until later that 1000 yen was worth about $10. Cnd. and i may have incorrectly thought it was worth $20.

I walked into this big store called something like Eons but i'm not sure because one or more of the letters was sort of backwards. I was in the grocery dept. so i walked around admiring the fresh fruits and veggies and then did a few other aisles. When i got tired of seeing groceries i walked into the next section and saw KFC and McDs. I would have liked to snap a pic or two but there’d be people in them so decided it would be rude to appear that i was taking their pics. I forged on and who do i bump into but my Australian poker player friend Margaret and another ship mate. A valuable piece of info she gave me was that the button to flush the toilets in Japan was located near the floor, lol. So i walked a lot looking for a paper shop but didn’t hear anyone speaking English to ask if they could direct me to one or even a stationary place or even a book store so I was outta luck on that.

There was another mall off to the side and elevators to other floors but i suddenly got a little scared of not being able to find my way back if i ventured off too much. I became tired of walking after a couple hours and decided that i should save my energy and walk back to the ship because i didn’t know if i’d been ripped off with my ride getting there. I also didn’t know for sure if a taxi driver would understand where to take me. So i went back from whence i had come in the mall and then outside where i looked around for my ship but couldn’t see it. After a while a couple with Canuck shirts came along and i asked them what direction was the Jewel and they pointed out the way. Then as i was walking another couple came up behind and they were going back to the Jewel so i just followed them. Well, they were like speed walkers and i was left in the dust but by then i could actually see NCL above all the warehouses in the area so i was able to take my time and ended up finding a few sidewalk souvenirs. One was a piece of rubber from a tire which i ’ll use as a stamp, a rusty key with Japanese writing on it, a rusty old washer or metal ring of some sort and best of all a scrap of paper that had been on the ground for quite a while and I’ll use it in a collage. I boarded the ship and headed for my cabin feeling happy and relieved to be back “home” with my haul.

I ended up taking a nap, a real one, totally asleep kind of nap. This was the first time i actually slept in the afternoon in many years. I awoke when Annie came in and noticed it was already dark out!
I went for dinner and then to the stage show, casino, Magnum Lounge, and back to the Stardust showroom for the hypnotist show. It was an adult only show and funny as can be. Then back to the buffet for ice cream and a iced tea and then retired to my room.