Sapporo

"too cute"

After Yokosuka, we flew up to Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan to attend the Sapporo "snow and ice festival." It was spectacular! We were able to meet up with Jamie and Janna, friends from Saipan, and keep warm as we saw the views. We loved seeing the intricate statues and were in awe of the detail for such a short festival (where does everything go once the festival ends?) The weather was blistery cold -- high in low teens with a windchill that shocked our system. We saw a TON of snow and enjoyed the scenery.

missing our dogs -- posing in front of snoopy snow sculpture

giant snow sculpture of Hokkaido zoo

Jamie, Janna and Meg warming their insides with hot wine

a giant snow sculpture of a Korean building

mom and child

the Sapporo brewery

Sapporo "sampler"

going down the "giant" ice slide

"ramen alley" in downtown Sapporo

ice sculpture of eagle catching fish

an ice bar

fish house (how'd they do this?)

inside Otaru brewery (dunkel beer and prosciutto!)

Otaru canal lit up at night (brewery on the right)

Food and drink in Hokkaido was wonderful. They are known for their dairy and seafood and ramen. We drank fresh milk (and hot chocolate) at every chance and put butter on anything that would hold it! We enjoyed the crab and fresh sushi, as well. We were skeptical that ramen could be tasty (think back to college years and 20cent meals...) but it was WONDERFUL here - often topped with pork, crab, scallions and (what else) more butter! We were able to enjoy one of our favorite drinks while here, as well.... BEER! Luck had it we easily fell upon 2 great breweries and tours -- Sapporo beer and Otaru beer. We were able to shop for unique items of the area including a classic glass bouy turned into a lamp/vase (we've been collecting glass balls our entire time as a couple and these were from the fishermen of northern Japan) and a lacquer music box for miss Cora (lacquer is to Japan as china is to China... does that make sense?)