20161011 - 20161012_Hokkaido

Oct 11 - 12: Sapporo



We started the day bright and early to take the subway to Asaichi Maruka - a wholesale fish market.  We had a yummy Sushi breakfast at Sushi-no-uo-masa. This is a tiny stall in the middle of the market with product fresh from the surrounding market!  We put our trust in the Sushi chef and asked him to give us his recommended 10 Sushi,  and then also asked for Uni (sea urchin), Scallop and Abalone.  All of them were nice and fresh, and my personal favorite was the Botan Shrimp Sushi.  Our only complaint was that the slices were a bit thin.



Next up was the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden ... or, it was supposed to be.  Due to the holiday, they stayed open on Monday (yesterday) and closed instead on Tuesday (today!). So we headed to Odori Park and spent more time there than initially planned. It's a nice green space in the heart of the city and is quite pretty.  There are several fountains and playgrounds, the most iconic piece being the Black Slide. One thing I notice about the slides here and at Moerenuma Park are that they are quite steep!  They are way more than a 45 degree angle - making it quite fast and fun.  At the far end of the park (by the 13th section) is the Sapporo city museum and associated rose garden.  We didn't go into the museum, but the rose garden was nice to wander through even this late in the season.





Following our Odori Park exploration, we went to have ramen in Ramen Alley.  There were many stalls to choose from and we didn't know what the difference was, so we went by pictures.  The ramen was good, with the White Miso being the best in my opinion.  Following this, we did a bit of shopping in the Tanukikoji area, the oldest shopping district, and purchased some tourist presents. One thing to take caution of are the prices.  It's not the same across stores, so it would be worth it to do a bit of looking prior to purchasing!


Next was Gingko Road, a road in the Hokkaido University campus that is lined with Gingko trees, and maple trees beside them.  We are hoping the trees had changed colours, but alas only some were  beginning the transition to yellow.  So we got a couple pictures (and a Gingko fruit), before heading back to the hotel to check out the Sapporo Park beside our hotel, and to get a bit of rest before dinner.  The park is lovely, especially the peaceful Japanese garden section.  Our final stop was a yummy crab meal, where we had 3 types of crab (snow,  hairy and king) in different styles (boiled,  grilled and sashimi) or in different dishes. The boiled hairy crab was the handsdown favorite.

The next day was our travel day to Hong Kong. But first we got some shopping done at Uniqlo and the Mitsui Outlet Park.  A successful shopping trip, with gifts for all the little ones and some beautiful and sharp Japanese knives prepared the traditional way with folded steel!

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