From our overnighter in Suo-Oshima, we headed to Kanazawa — my first time there. During the stop/transfer at Kyoto Station, I picked up a salmon and Saba sushi ekiben and ate it on the train.

We arrived at the station around 4:30 p.m. and walked to the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa right outside the train station. After checking into the hotel we had time to explore the area but I think our jet lag and itinerary finally caught up with us and we were so tired we felt delirious and couldn’t even make it to a restaurant for dinner. We ended up getting food from the department store — which was really excellent.

After a great sleep, we walked from our hotel to Omicho seafood market and had an abalone snack. I love this kind of browsing to see all the amazing and fresh seafood and produce of the area.

After the market, we walked to Kanazawa Castle and the gardens and ate melon ice shave and ice cream covered in gold. It was too hot to keep exploring so after getting back to the hotel, we decided to buy more sashimi from the grocery store and eat it in the room in air-conditioned comfort. Later that afternoon, our friend arrived in Kanazawa and we stopped at the wine bar next to the hotel and had champagne and some charcuterie.

We were on a roll so we bought another bottle of wine and this time, we took it to the room and enjoyed it with some of our purchases including more abalone, truffle chips, and camembert cheese with truffles wrapped in a thin fish cake sheet. I know it sounds weird but it was so delicious! After that bottle of wine, we went to an izakaya for dinner and ended up making friends with the owner and employee and the other couple in the bar. Had some eggplant sashimi–I didn’t know that was a thing!

What a fun evening. Living Hilo Style in Kanazawa.