Hokkaido Trip Report 4
First up on today's itinerary was a trip to Otaru, a sort of port town. As you can see from the picture, the temperature then was 5.9 degrees, one of the warmer days.
We visited one of the orgel/music box museums in the city, along a street filled with several other shops selling glassware, different types of snacks and food.
Some of the tunes were pretty up to date with a wide selection. Songs ranged from well-known artists such as Mr.Children and Hamasaki Ayumi to those from the Ghibli films as well as some disney films. Due to time constraints, I didn't really get to visit much of the other shops as I had lingered in the orgel place for quite a long while.
Before returning to the coach, I bought a lavender-flavored soft cream which tasted pretty good. It had just the right amount of sweetness that I liked, flavorful but not too sweet. There were other flavors available of course, such as one with a combination of milk, lavender and yubari melon flavors.
Next up was lunch which consisted of a hotpot (Remember me mentioning in the first post when I said that meal provided a preview of things to come ?), fish flakes which you're supposed to pour onto the rice, as well as a grilled hokke fish (at least I think it's called hokke). It was delicious and tasted slightly sweet. In case you can't see clearly from the picture, the dessert was a yubari melon- flavored jelly.
After lunch was a visit to the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We only got to wander around outside as they weren't prepared to take in visitors at the moment after re-opening for business only recently. If you are unaware of the scandal which previously surrounded it, good for you :D
As you can see, it hardly looks like a factory from its exterior. From its European theme complete with luxurious patios, it could certainly have passed off as a hotel or some themed resort, at least from the outside. There is even a mechanical performance every hour, which begins at the clocktower and partially involves the patio and part of the main building. Shiroi Koibito was already sold out for the day over there even though we arrived around 1.15pm.
Next on the itinerary was a stop at the Tanukikoji Shopping Street, which had many stores above ground as well as underground. There was even a Daiso nearby which had around 7 levels if I remember correctly.
We then proceeded to Odori Park and though it was raining, there was still a festive mood in the air with all the christmas lights and decorations. Many of the stores sold food and sweet sake.
Just opposite the section of the park I visited was the Sapporo TV Tower, but I didn't get to go up to the observation deck.
That was because our next stop was the JR TOWER Observatory T38, which stands for Tower Three Eight and the observatory deck is on the 38th floor. The Tower was linked to a shopping mall called Stellar Place, which was crowded with festive shoppers.
The view was pretty spectacular, at least to me. There were also 2 live musicians on the observatory deck playing classical pieces to add to the mood. If you go there during the day, you might even be able to see all the way to Otaru if the weather is clear.
A barbecue/grill dinner was next on the list which consists of those stuff you see in the picture as well as beef, pork or chicken. We decided to order special kobe beef to sample, which turned out to be pretty expensive. It cost more than 10k Yen for that plate in the picture on the top right. Granted it was probably the best beef I had ever tasted, but the price was really high.
After dinner, we proceeded to the hotel.
There was an onsen in this hotel as well, which included a small outdoor pool. Once again, it was nice being in the outdoor pool as it was snowing at the time that I visited. If I recall correctly, the temperature of the hot spring this time was not as high as the others, so it merely felt warm instead of hot.
We visited one of the orgel/music box museums in the city, along a street filled with several other shops selling glassware, different types of snacks and food.
Some of the tunes were pretty up to date with a wide selection. Songs ranged from well-known artists such as Mr.Children and Hamasaki Ayumi to those from the Ghibli films as well as some disney films. Due to time constraints, I didn't really get to visit much of the other shops as I had lingered in the orgel place for quite a long while.
Before returning to the coach, I bought a lavender-flavored soft cream which tasted pretty good. It had just the right amount of sweetness that I liked, flavorful but not too sweet. There were other flavors available of course, such as one with a combination of milk, lavender and yubari melon flavors.
Next up was lunch which consisted of a hotpot (Remember me mentioning in the first post when I said that meal provided a preview of things to come ?), fish flakes which you're supposed to pour onto the rice, as well as a grilled hokke fish (at least I think it's called hokke). It was delicious and tasted slightly sweet. In case you can't see clearly from the picture, the dessert was a yubari melon- flavored jelly.
After lunch was a visit to the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We only got to wander around outside as they weren't prepared to take in visitors at the moment after re-opening for business only recently. If you are unaware of the scandal which previously surrounded it, good for you :D
As you can see, it hardly looks like a factory from its exterior. From its European theme complete with luxurious patios, it could certainly have passed off as a hotel or some themed resort, at least from the outside. There is even a mechanical performance every hour, which begins at the clocktower and partially involves the patio and part of the main building. Shiroi Koibito was already sold out for the day over there even though we arrived around 1.15pm.
Next on the itinerary was a stop at the Tanukikoji Shopping Street, which had many stores above ground as well as underground. There was even a Daiso nearby which had around 7 levels if I remember correctly.
We then proceeded to Odori Park and though it was raining, there was still a festive mood in the air with all the christmas lights and decorations. Many of the stores sold food and sweet sake.
Just opposite the section of the park I visited was the Sapporo TV Tower, but I didn't get to go up to the observation deck.
That was because our next stop was the JR TOWER Observatory T38, which stands for Tower Three Eight and the observatory deck is on the 38th floor. The Tower was linked to a shopping mall called Stellar Place, which was crowded with festive shoppers.
The view was pretty spectacular, at least to me. There were also 2 live musicians on the observatory deck playing classical pieces to add to the mood. If you go there during the day, you might even be able to see all the way to Otaru if the weather is clear.
A barbecue/grill dinner was next on the list which consists of those stuff you see in the picture as well as beef, pork or chicken. We decided to order special kobe beef to sample, which turned out to be pretty expensive. It cost more than 10k Yen for that plate in the picture on the top right. Granted it was probably the best beef I had ever tasted, but the price was really high.
After dinner, we proceeded to the hotel.
There was an onsen in this hotel as well, which included a small outdoor pool. Once again, it was nice being in the outdoor pool as it was snowing at the time that I visited. If I recall correctly, the temperature of the hot spring this time was not as high as the others, so it merely felt warm instead of hot.
Labels: Japan
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