Sapporo Snow Festival - Part 3

Lots of yummy choices!

We do a little more than just look at snow and ice!  But not much more, because it really is fun to see all the beautiful sculptures.  I have to give a shout out to the food here, though - it's the best of any event we've been to in Japan.  Not only is there a wonderful selection but the signs are also in English!  Usually I'm looking at a picture and trying to determine if it's pork, chicken, gristle or some other animal part I don't prefer to eat.  Then you guess what flavor the sauce might be...it's usually a mystery, even once you try it!

Steamed oysters

Grilled Hokkaido beef and veggies, and my new favorite drink -
hot lemonade (yes, with a splash of rum in it)!

One item that surprises me about the festival is the lack of bathrooms.  I'm used to having one on every block in Tokyo! As I wander down into a subway station to find one, I see this older Japanese couple walking in front of me.  I can't resist taking a picture of them in their coordinating sweaters.  Steve and I will have to do that in a few years!

Have to start looking for matching sweaters!

Naturally, since we're in Sapporo, we have to stop at the Sapporo brewery.  They have a free self guided tour, with information in English.  It's interesting to read the history.  Asahi Beer and Sapporo were once one company, but after WWII they were required to break the company into two parts because it was too big.

After the tour we reach the Sapporo tasting room.  I'm a little disappointed because my favorite Japanese beer, Ebisu, is not available, even though the company is owned by Sapporo.  They do have some of the old recipes of Sapporo to try, along with the current version, so we choose the sampler to taste.

with our helpful servers

Kanpai!

My new favorite cookie!

Another well known site here is  Shiroi Koibito Park, where they make the famous Hokkaido langue de chat biscuits.  We decide not to visit, but we buy a box of cookies so we can at least try them.  They are awesome!

We don't eat every meal at the festival (though we come close).  I use TripAdvisor to find a recommended Italian restaurant close to our hotel.  I chose Picchu and ask our concierge to make reservations for us.  She's informed they only provide a set menu for foreign guests (vs a la carte), which is what we like to choose, anyway.  The food in the small restaurant is excellent and it's nice to sit inside a heated building after spending so much time outside (the high temperatures never got above 30 degrees).  We see a Thai restaurant, タイ国料理ジッラダ, right beside Picchu, and try that another night.  The food is good, and I have a wonderful coconut cocktail.

The spa lobby area

We also have a massage at Lila Oriental Thai Massage.  Steve found it through Google, and we hesitantly go up to their location on the fourth floor of a building.  I'm a little nervous about going inside, but once we open the door we see the spa facility and know it's legit. (Every massage place I've found in Japan has been authentic, but still...Breaking News - I just discovered for a business to use the word massage, they must be licensed - so they should always be legit.)  They do a wonderful job, and it's a nicer facility than our Thai massage place back in Tokyo.

It's time to depart from Sapporo, and we're hoping it goes better than our arrival.  When researching the trip, it appears that our hotel is only about a 30 minute drive from the airport, and after looking at the public transportation, I decide it'll be easier if we just take a taxi.  When we land, Steve does a check on his phone, and also sees a 30 minute drive.  We go to the taxi stand, and tell the driver we want to go to the Holiday Inn Sapporo.  He looks confused, and I have to show him the address on my phone.  As we drive away I'm a little nervous, because it's a hotel in the center of Sapporo - it should be well known.  I do a check on driving with Google, and it comes up as a 60 minute drive.  What?!?  Steve and I talk about it, and we realize what happened.  He just put in "airport" when he did his check, and it pulled up a private airfield, not the New Chitose Airport, the international airport used for Sapporo.  When I did my research on this trip almost a year ago I was still figuring out how Google worked with public transportation - it's very time specific.  I probably looked late at night, so there was no traffic, and the express train from the airport to Sapporo Station wasn't running (that's why the drive looked shorter and easier than the other options).  At this point we're out on a highway, so we figure we just have to deal with whatever the final payment will be (in case you're curious, it ends up costing us $60 extra than if we'd used the train).

Now that we know about the express train, we're all set to go to Sapporo Station and take it to the airport.  We're leaving on Saturday, but the festival goes until Sunday, so we think it won't be as crowded.  We are wrong.  We get the first inclination when we see the line to buy train tickets.  There's never so many people in line for the self-serve kiosks.  We wait, and I'm looking at the boards above - and I see the reserved seats have been sold out on the next four trains to the airport.  I know in Tokyo you're required to have a reserved seat for the airport trains, so I start to get nervous (especially since we've never seen the airport trains come close to selling all the seats).  We finally reach the kiosk, and we're given the option of buying non-reserved seats (which you can do in Tokyo, but you need to have another ticket to accompany it).  Luckily a Japanese man in line explains to us that we will be "legal" if we buy that ticket.  I ask if that means we'll be standing for the 40 minute train ride, and he says it's possible.  At least we don't have to wait an hour for the next train that has reserved seats available.  We go to the platform and wait - luckily we're at the front of the line.  It turns out there's only one car on the train with reserved seats - the other six are like a typical subway car.  Since we're first on, we snag two seats.  Yes!  

Unfortuntately, Steve's not actually at the front of the line,
though it looks like it in the picture!

Once we arrive at the airport, we have to stand in line to check in - because I bought our tickets on the international website (vs the Japanese) we can't use the kiosks.  We're in line less than 15 minutes, so we think all is okay, until we find out we don't check our bags in at the counter - we have to go stand in another line to do that (our suitcases are small enough, but there is a 20 pound weight limit for carry on).  This is the longest line I've ever seen!  I leave Steve to hold our place and I go to the bathroom, buy more of my favorite cookies, pick up some fast food for our lunch, stroll through the shops and THEN go back to join Steve in line.  We wait about 10 more minutes, then we can finally turn over our bags.  Fortunately, the security line isn't a problem, and we're at our gate with 30 minutes to spare before boarding.  I'm glad we gave ourselves extra time!  The rest of the trip passes without a problem.  

We get Tie-Dye back from his "kennel camp."  (Or should I say Kennel Kamp? - ha, ha)  He has fun with his doggy friends, and the staff gives him extra attention, since it's the first time he's gone without Tahoe.  

"I love shaggy dogs!  They remind me of my friend, Sandy."