Sapporo

How nice to have a big sleep in a comfy bed!
Breakfast is provided - corn soup and bread rolls with jam - different, but adequate.

We bought a day transport ticket and headed up to town to find a bank, but ended up at an ATM. Discovered that they will give more than Y10,000. As we came out of the bank, 9:30am, it started to snow, and it kept up all day. It wasn't heavy, but I used my umbrella, and David chose to get wet.

We headed to the snow festival's main site in Odori Park and wandered up and down, looking at the snow sculptures, huge and large.




The international team competition had just started, and we will go back again to see how they finished.

We caught a bus through the suburbs to a big sports ground where there are more activities, mostly family oriented. We had a go on a slippery dip and watched more snow sculpturing. Then we came back to the hotel.

After a nap, we packed up and headed to the laundromat, where we read while our gear went round and round. It was pretty dark by the time we got back, and it had just about finished snowing. We hung the half-dried washing, and went out again. The park beside our station was decorated with candles.

This time we went to Susukino, the shopping-nightlife district, where there were ice sculptures, finished and just started.


We watched the chainsaw carvers,

had tea along the way (ramen noodle soup), and got home at about 20:30.