So to start off, I was invited out by a friend the night before and he claims to be a pumpkin (my nickname for the guys who have to be back on the ship by midnight), he is not a real pumpkin but he goes to bed early. So Darlene, Ned, his friend Adam and I head out. We started late because I was helping Ned with some things and had to finish packing. We grab dinner and go bowling. Good times were had by all but the early to bed night ended early in the morning. So around 2am we crash out at Darlene's so we can leave at 0530 and get on the bus on base. That was great, the bus picked us up and took us straight to the airport. Off the bus and were literally handed our tickets. Checked in at the airline counter, grabbed breakfast and shortly thereafter we were on a plane. First Haneda airport tripped me out. I am used to airports that are near water, San Diego, San Francisco, shoot even Sacramento flies over rivers and rice fields as you land, but Haneda is on the water. I could see whitecaps from the terminal. It just seemed so odd to me.
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| From Sapporo 2009 - Randomness |
The flight was fine, I was a little unnerved by the nose and then belly cam on the plane though. I really do not want to see what I may potentially crash into shortly.
So we get to Sapporo, Chitose really, get off the plane, grab the bags board our awaiting bus and off we go to Otaru. I was really looking forward to Otaru. A friend of mine had been there the winter before and told me some things and it just sounded cool. It is a quiet, port town with canals and just a great atmosphere. Of course Darlene and I quickly found the Otaru brewery, it isn't a problem it's a gift. We had some good and different beer as well as yummy food. Otaru is known for their glass blowing so we saw some gorgeous glass. We did not have much time but we wandered around and just took it in. I loved the place and convinced Darlene we needed to go back the next night for the candlelight snow festival. So back on the bus we went.
The bus then took us to the hotel where we checked in and napped (we did not sleep remember). After a couple of hours we got back on the bus and went to the Sapporo Brewery, hey in the States I travel by way of Margaritaville in Japan it is breweries and good ones too. There we had yakiniku, which is basically cook your own food at the table. It was very good. It was all you can eat and drink for 90 minutes. I think they were trying to brainwash us into joining the Communist Party through good meat and booze. I mean look at all the red stars everywhere.
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| From Sapporo 2009 |
It was a lot of fun and very good. Then it was back on the bus, to go back tot he hotel (are you tired yet). From there we headed to the ice festival in Susukino, which is a nightclub district in Sapporo. It was cool. The sculptures were really neat and a lot of fun to wander past. It was snowing the whole time but not too bad. We stopped in at a bar to have a drink, well really to use the bathroom and ran into some people we knew from work. So we drank with them and chatted. By the way I was drinking dark ales, and while there I had 4 of the best darks I have ever had, one even gives Guinness a run for its money, I know sacrilege.
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| From Sapporo 2009 |
Then it was back to the hotel. Yes we were exhausted.
I woke up early but let Darlene sleep. She wasn't even stirring when I was ready to go so I took off. I thought she realized I was serious when I said I would do that. I hit the festival before it officially opened. That was so worth seeing. The sculptures are built, for the most part, by the Japanese Self Defense Force (JSDF). So they were out there, some in camis, cleaning off the sculptures. I want to be the guy with the bullhorn barking orders.
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| From Sapporo 2009 |
I was able to get up pretty close and the volunteers were more than happy to take a picture for me.
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| From Sapporo 2009 |
After Darlene joined me we went to the top of the TV tower, which was cool to see the view and the sculptures from so high up. We then wandered the festival. It is about 12 blocks long. We were accosted by children pretending to speak English (they only really knew what they were asking and the simple answers to their questions) but it was fun. They played games with us. The sculptures were just amazing.
A little after lunch we had finished walking the festival so we headed back to Otaru.
We went to a different part of Otaru and walked back toward the canals. We shopped and just wandered. I found corn, baked potato and sweet bean flavored Kit-Kats as well as caramels in every flavor. The beer ones are a little beery but I was told the meat ones taste like meat. I do not know if the person I gave the corn ones to will actually eat them or just save them for the sheer humor. I finally got a good cup of coffee at a cafe we stopped in to snack. Then after more wandering, we still had time to kill before the sun went down so of course we went back to the brewery to try more flavors of beer. The brewery sat on the water so we were able to watch them string and light the candles floating in the canal as well as the ones on the banks. It was really neat. Then we walked the canal in the candle light as we made our way back toward the train. The festival is called the Otaru Snow Gleaming festival or Yukiakari-no Michi. It was very beautiful and I would have loved to wander longer but we needed to head back so we could see the snow sculptures, lit up.
Once we were back in Sapporo, Darlene was beat so I went off to see the sculptures lit up alone. I managed to walk the major sculptures before they shut the lights off. It is amazing how different they are lit up. Some were much more dramatic.
On the last day we found the Chocolate Factory and had some very good chocolate. That is also where I met my good friends Bach and Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln was definitely a little jealous of Bach. But hey what can I say, musicians are just hotter. Then we boarded the bus and then the plane. It was great having a trip where they did not make us go to certain places in certain orders but at the same time all of the transportation was provided for. But that was my whirlwind trip to Sapporo. Sapporo was ok, but thank goodness for Otaru, I would love to go back there.
Here is the random I encountered as we traveled
1 comment:
Very cool! And thanks for picking up the Kit Kats. I'll try one of each and that'll probably be it. If they smell too chocolately I won't eat them...will give them to the kids instead!
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