Snowmen, chocolate and Sapporo beer

After flying all day from the southern most island of Japan to the northern most island of Japan (Hakkaido), we were ready to explore, but the Snow Festival doesn't start until Monday.

Sunday, February 6
Our first stop was Otaru, a sleepy fishing town that reminded me of towns in Colorado or northeast Iowa. The sun was out and the snow was soft and fluffy. There were snowmen around every corner. Olivia experienced snow for the first time. She walked around, deep in thought.

We walked through a music box museum (AKA Japanese for shop with a few old things, but mostly it's a store.) The museum had all kinds of music boxes for sale, including ones that looked like sushi and others that were moving Ferris wheels.

After lunch at a Sushi-Go-Round (delicious!), we went to a chocolate factory. Here again we walked around, and saw the chocolate cookies being made, but that was about it. We didn't have enough time to make our own chocolate at the factory. Boo.

Dinner was at the Sapporo Beer Garden, here we had all we could eat and drink in 90 minutes. Too bad we had to cook the food ourselves on a table grill. Benny was in charge of making the lamb, beef and seafood along with some veggies. He also kept a steady stream of beer glasses coming for the group. Olivia preferred the rice and ate an entire dish of it.

After dinner, our tour guide said the festival wasn't started yet, but they were testing the lights. So we headed to the festival and got our first look at the snow sculptures. Breathtaking.