One word springs to mind about Hakodate today.  And it’s not spring!  “Cold” would be the operational word for the day even if we are in May.

Officially, it was 11 deg at lunch time.  It felt like 1 deg.  But I’m being picky because I was the only one not sufficiently weather-proofed.  Our intrepid painters were equipped for the Arctic — although I did notice a few shivers and I don’t think that was paint turning hands blue.

Today was our first full day of painting on the Hokkaido Horizons tour and we were bused from our hotel to Goryōkaku Park for a five-hour session, broken for a quick sandwich lunch, bought in advance from the 7/11 near our hotel.

Ev provided guidance with a demo from a spot overlooking the lovely old Japanese house (actually the former Hakodate Magistrate’s Office) surrounded by pine trees and the remains of the cherry blossoms.

The pic above is of a glorious weeping cherry tree, bursting with blossoms, but sadly most of the other trees we’d admired on Sunday had shed their pink spendour.

Back to the hotel in the afternoon for a well earned soak in a very hot tub in the roof-top rotemburo (open air bath).

Day one over.  Did I mention it was cold?