First Trip on 2016 – Sapporo!

It’s September already!!! Time flies! What have I done in 2016? LOL

The post that I’m going to write happened on 1st January 2016. It was 9 months ago. OTL

I’m really slow OTL forgive me. I am really lazy when it comes to editing photo and stuff.

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I was still on my Hokkaido trip with Pamela when 2016 comes. We decided to just take it slow and go stroll around Sapporo, eat all the good food, and take a lot of photos.

It’s a custom in Japan to go to temple during the first day of the year (初詣), so me and Pamela we went to Sapporo temple.

I don’t really remember the nearest subway to the temple, I think it’s Maruyama Koen station. It’s the same one with the zoo.

The temple was really close to the station, it just takes you 10 minutes walk. And you’ll pass a small park.

I think the view there is quite good to take some pictures.

We went to the temple early in the morning because we wanted to avoid the crowd. The later you went to visit a temple on the first day of the year, the more crowded it goes.

We arrived there around 9 AM, but it was a little bit crowded already.

(This is the park I’m talking about)

Even the road to the temple was so pretty. My friend – Pamela- she kept taking selfies every 10 seconds because the snow was way too pretty!

(front gate of the temple)

It was so crowded

Around the temple, there were a lot of food stalls and they sold a lot of yummy food. I think it’s a common to find food stall around temple during that day.

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After visiting the temple, we went back to Sapporo to visit Hokkaido university. Yeah, we must be crazy for going to a uni in the middle of winter holiday. We found this uni from our guide book. It’s written that in this uni, there was a row of poplar trees and those trees are so famous that people visit this uni just to take photo of the trees.

To go to this uni, you need to take the subway and stop at kitajyuuhachijyou (北18条) or kitajyuunijyou (北12条). The uni is located in between those two stations.

The famous poplar tree

You can take photos of the trees, however to go close to the tree is prohibited because the trees are very old and there’s a possibility of falling.

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From Hokkaido University, we went back to Oodori station to go the clock tower and the government building. Those two buildings are one of the landmark in Sapporo.

From Oodori station, you just have to walk to get to those places. And Oodori station is a very huge station with a lot of underground walkway, so you don’t have to worry about the cold weather.

However, the walking distance between those two places is quite far. Me and Pamela are so used to walk around so it was no problem for us, however if you’re not very fond of walking, I’d suggest you to take a cab.

Sapporo TV tower, we planned to go to visit this tower during the night because the night view from the top of this tower is so pretty.

The clock tower. I took the photos from across the street. I had to wait for a while to wait the vehicle passed by hehehe.

And from the clock tower, we went to the government building.

I walked pass this man which was flocked by a group of pigeon. I thought it was cute and I could not resist to take photo of him.

The government building

This building is no longer use as government building. It was also known as the red-brick office due to it’s colour. This building is open for public and it does not cost any admission fee. Open all year round.

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It was around 1 PM ish when we finished our stroll. We decided to go to Sapporo Beer Garden. This is the beer museum and there’s a restaurant nearby where you can eat the Jingis-Khan (lamb meat). It was one of the famous food in Hokkaido, so if you visit there, don’t forget to eat that meat.

(The beer garden)

 

The building with the chimney is the museum. They also offer beer testing inside the museum.

If you walk around a bit, you’ll find the restaurant. I don’t really remember the name. On 2013, I also visited this restaurant with my family.

MEATTTT!!!!!

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From the beer garden, we went to the chocolate museum.

Shiroi Koibito is a famous chocolate snack brand from Hokkaido. They have the factory at Sapporo and it’s open for public.

I think the concept of this factory (or museum) reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. There’s a garden filled with small houses and decorations. You can go to the garden for free, but if you want to go inside the museum you have to pay around 800yen.

 

The entrance of the museum

They have a lot of these small houses and I had too much fun!

Of course, I need to take photo inside the pink one *biased*

Outdoor part

The building is the museum / factory

Seriously this place is full of cute decorations.

Exactly at 4 PM, there’s a show in the garden. Some of the statues started to move and play music. And there was a machine blowing bubbles in the park. It was a short 15 minutes show. I recorded the performance, but I haven’t edited the video. So probably I’ll show it next time hehehe.

(bubbles!!)

And of course, you’ll need a cup of ice cream to make your day better!

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We decided to go in a bit to wait until it went dark. The outdoor garden is also pretty during the night with all the illuminated decorations.

Inside the museum, you can walk around and learn about how they make chocolate. There were glass windows where you can peek the worker making the chocolate. It was kind of surprising because it was the first of January and I thought no one will be there because it was holiday.

 

Thank you for making all those yummy delicacies 😀 感動した

There was a cafe inside the museum where you can enjoy all the good desserts. However, the line was too long, so we skipped that cafe. There’s a also a baking class where they’ll teach you how to make cakes and chocolates. Of course you have to register for it. We came a bit too late, and so.. there’s no class at night.

There’s also a store inside where you can but the chocolate. But if you don’t have time to visit this place, don’t worry, Shiroi Koibito snack is sold everywhere, including the airport.

We stayed there for quite a bit until it was dark enough to go outside.

The night view

I had too much fun with the houses.

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From the chocolate museum, we went back to Oodori, to the TV tower. We were to excited to go up there and enjoy the night view. Actually there’s places where you can enjoy the night view of Sapporo. The best is from mount Moira, but we decided not to go there because we were too tired. We thought that from the TV tower was enough for us.

There was a big space near the tower. If you come to Sapporo a bit early (usually before Christmas), they’ll have a Christmas Market in this space. They also have illuminations in this park.

We arrived there not too late actually. I had this bad feeling because there was not a lot of people in that park and the entrance of the tower is a bit dark.

And… my bad feeling is proven true. It was CLOSED due to public holiday. TT_____TT our fault for not checking it before we went there. At the end we did not managed to go to the top.

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To end the day (and to heal our sadness), we looked for a nice restaurant around that area and we were pigging out a little bit.

 

FOOODDDD!! Both of us are quite small but we ate a lot. LOL

KaniMiso!!!! Now I’m hungry too! LOL

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That’s how I spent my first day of 2016, walking and eating. It was my second time in Sapporo, so probably if I visit Hokkaido again, I would not go to Sapporo anymore. But.. who knows.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you’ve been to Sapporo,  let me know your adventure on the comments section below!

Your comments are always loved <3

Have a good day

-A