A wet afternoon followed by a fine day

Up early again to catch a train to go further along the coast to Kushiro. It was a wet day on and off and the sea looked pretty rough all the way along but we could still see pretty great scenery.  We booked into our hotel and thought we would brave the weather and go for a walk but again we turned around as it was too wet and windy.  So a pleasant afternoon lying on the bed, knitting and reading!  The view out the window was pretty bleak.  And the sad part was that Kushiro is reputed to be 3rd in the world for its magnificent sunset but no sun today! I read that in the Lonely Planet so it must be true!

Up early again to catch 6.03 train from Kushiro to Abashiri which was on the top of the island. The train was a little old local 2 carriage train although we were only allowed to sit in the first carriage. The trip was through 2 national parks which were pretty spectacular in parts.  We had a 3 hour wait in Abashiri so went for a walk to find the Okhostk Sea. The photo below is what it looked like - so foggy! This sea freezes over in winter and people come up to have a ride on the sea. It was a pretty ordinary town although it had a long street with verandas over all the shops for about 600 metres. We saw a sign for coffee outside a shop with the door closed. When I touched the door, it sprang open and there were all these people sitting at the bar and tables looking at us - I think they were drinking coffee.  The overwhelming smell was the cigarette smoke. I nearly backed out but they were all staring and the owner gave us such a friendly greeting that we went in.  The coffee which was just black came with a piece of thick toast.  Dad eventually got his message across about hot water only in a cup - so he could use his decaf tea bag!

This photo is for Mark. We were at the station when this little group came along with their teacher. They were on an excursion of the station learning how the ticket machine operated, how to go through the gates,etc. We were impressed with the clip boards around their necks. They rested the board on their tummy and the cord held the board straight so they could write - pretty knacky.  I am not sure whether anyone worried they might choke or not?

One more photo of this town - the red crane, symbol of Japan. 

we didn’t see real ones - nor did we see any brown bears.

Oh I forgot the one real bird - a jail bird!   This place is famous for its prison - like Alcatraz is to America.