2023 Cunard Queen Elizabeth - 29-Day Transpacific Yokohama to Vancouver
May 25, 2023 (Thursday) - At Sea
It felt a little rough in the middle of the night and throughout the day. Not wavy but the swell was quite big. Many people were sick and stayed inside on this day.
Breakfast at the MDR
English breakfast
After our breakfast at the MDR, we met with the FB groups of Chinese cruisers at the Garden Lounge. More than 20 people showed up and we had a great time meeting each other. Good to have finally met Jenny parents. After spending the last three years in Taiwan because of the pandemic, they are finally able to head home back to Vancouver. We talked until around 11:40 when we started to get ready for lunch.
Meeting new friends for the first time.
New friendship developed.
It was lunch at the Lido and we found that they have really good variety of food served there so we ended up having lunch there most days. Later on that day when we were getting ready for the first Gala Night, we discovered that there was no hot water in the shower but that problem was fixed when we came back from dinner after we called the purser's desk for service.
May 26, 2023 (Friday) Aomori
This is our fourth time visiting Aomori. Our ship was supposed to dock at 8:00 this morning so we went for breakfast at the Lido at 7:00. After breakfast and got ready to go on shore, it was around 8:45 when we walked into the cruise terminal. There was no performance but a group of young people were there to greet us. No shuttles provided to go to town and we were told to either take a taxi or walk.
Wonderful greeters at the cruise terminal.
Greeters of all ages! Bless their hearts!
Beautiful Queen Elizabeth!
A-Spam building at a distance.
We walked along the shore to the train station, bought tickets for 680Y each way, and waited for the train to go to Hirosaki. It turned out that many from the ship, including some Chinese passengers whom we met yesterday, were on the same train so we practically took the trip together.
Waiting to board our train to Hirosaki.
We arrived at Hirosaki around 11:30 and boarded the loop bus to the castle.
Arrived at the Hirosaki station.
Cute lantern!
Go downstairs from here...
the loop bus station is right near the exit. 100Y each way. Exit the bus at stop #14 right at the entrance of the castle. Entrance to the park is free.
Not many people at the castle park today so it was a nice leisurely walk around. To enter the actual Hirosaki castle and museum, we purchased the group tickets for a little discount of 250Y, instead of 320Y, with the 11 of us together. We climbed up to the castle but this time they did not have the dress up there.
Outer moat right outside of the park.
Sugi-no Ohashi Bridge
Hirosaki Castle
With a view of Mt. Iwaki.
Takaoka-bashi Bridge
Butokuden Rest Area
Middle Moat near Ishibashi Bridge
After that we took the loop bus back to town and went to look for the Niji No Market where we had a simple but cheap seafood rice bowl. Then we walked about 6 minutes back to the train station and caught the 1:45 train back to Aomori just in time.
Our train got back at 2:40 and it started raining in Aomori. We walked from the train station to the nearby seafood market in the basement of the Auga Department Store. Most seafood places were closed by now but the famous one was still open. We were too full to get any more food except we bought a couple of Aomori apples to try (350Y each). They were OK, not as amazing as I expected. We also bought some dried scallops to take home with very good price.
Auga Fresh Market
A-Spam building
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Daiso and also at the A-Spam building to get a few things, including apple pies and apple juice to taste. They were all very good.
By the time we got back on the ship it was around 4:30 and we were tired. We have walked more than 4 miles today and all three of us crashed and napped before dinner at the Lido at 6:30. They were serving Japanese dinner so we decided we should skip the MDR instead. Tomorrow we should be in Otaru, but because of the exit procedures for Japanese Immigration, it is going to cut short of our time in town and must finish the face-to-face interview before 5:00. Let’s see what’s going to happen tomorrow!
"For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." -- Matthew 25:29
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