I was awoken by Jenny (I was kicking back on my futon and bag-of-cement pillow) at what seemed to be the middle of the night, but it turned out to simply be a very overcast day. She advised that I could either have a fast shower or a cold one - so I spent a luxurious 2.5 minutes showering, before the steaming-hot cascade turned into cruel needles of ice.
We descended to the in-house restaurant, pretty-much anticipating a buffet-style breakfast set-up we had experienced everywhere else. Turns out that this place takes tradition to new heights, and served a set meal for breakfast as well as dinner. The kids had grown used to being able to ferret out some toast and jam, but were now faced with sashimi, egg-rolls and miso soup. The looks on their faces were priceless. Jen and I were served the 'grown up' version with dishes I am completely unfamiliar with. The majority were quite nice, but am at a loss to explain one offering I ended up consuming (but Jen piked on):
It was served in a small bowl, about the size of an egg-cup. In the deceptively innocuous bowl were some cold broad-beans and a relative of the chilli - shredded. So far, so good. Over it was what I can only describe as goo. Try as I might, I am unable to appreciate 'that something extra' some cold, slimy ectoplasmic tendrils add to the rest of the dish. There was no flavour - just goo, strings of which would cling to the bowl as you retrieved bean/chilli portions. On the plus side, it made the coffee appear lovely in comparison.
We stepped out into some icy cross-winds flecked with rain, to return our beloved Blue Mazda 3 to the Hire company. In it we'd driven through snow, failed to pay tolls on freeways, and been pulled over by the Police.
Good times.
So we set out on foot once more, this time to Sapporo Station. The place consists of not only the Station, but several shopping centres (both above and below ground), Hotels and an Observation Tower. We needed to access the Post Office, but that entire section of the building was closed (it was before 10am after all) so we indulged in a 'second breakfast' of chocolate scrolls and lattes (could have used more goo though).
Once we pantomimed our way through our Post Office interaction - we decided to take a peek from the Observation Tower. Sapporo is huge. To the North East you can see the water - across which is Russia. There is nothing but a sea of densely-packed humanity in all other directions.
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| Sapporo - South view of the Observation Tower |
We decided to risk the inclement weather, and take a stroll around the Botanical Garden (it was just 10 metres from our Hotel). On our way in we were confronted with a warning sign that was reasonably clear - despite being entirely in Japanese. The Wasp Warning Sign was sufficient to freak out our drama-prone Lily (who on at least one occasion leaped away squealing from some seed pods on a bush). While the Garden was not a patch on the Imperial East Garden in Tokyo - it was a nice break from all the concrete of the rest of Sapporo (the rain even eased for the duration of our time there - and we remained wasp-free!).
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| Wasps! They sting people!!! (or words to that effect) |
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| Grassy section of the Botanical Garden |
We wandered back up to Sapporo Station and booked our JR Passes, explored the Underground Shopping Malls, and indulged in assorted products from a multi-national burger franchise. To add insult to gastronomic injury, we picked up an assortment of donuts from the appropriately-named Mister Donut for dessert, as well as some large cafe lattes.
As we returned to our Hotel we were confronted by the worlds smallest fire engine (parked across the road with lights flashing), either a police officer or parking attendant (I get them mixed up) pacing about, and a camera crew pointing at the entrance of our Hotel. Awesome.
It appears someone/thing broke a glass door to a downstairs restaurant adjacent to our hotel, and this was likely the biggest crime-story of the day. There is still yellow-tape around the area as I type, and it will likely be the talk of the train tomorrow.
The kids are tucked into their futons, teeth cleaned after having one of Mister Donut's finest (I believe I had a pumpkin-based one - an homage to Halloween no doubt).
Tomorrow sees us take a train ride to Hakodate, which is apparently the most 'atmospheric city in Hokkaido'. Looking forward to that - but may pass on second-helping of goo tomorrow morning.
