Day 2 in Hokkaido (Otaru & Sapporo)

When we open up the curtains and looked out of our room (Rm 0607...in case wanna buy 4D when I'm back haha), the whiteness of the surrounding struck us immediately! Wow...it snowed during the night...so romanticcccccccc.......

After a simple buffet style breakfast, we wrapped ourselves up like a 'penguin' again and get mentally prepared to brave the cold. After barely 200m from the hotel, we started to feel that walking in the snow is perhaps not as romantic as we imagined ahhaha....cos the snow had started to solidify into ice and it was sooo difficult to walk ard, esp since we have to take care of the ex and heavy alpha A700 (Side story...for those who still rem, I brought a lousy canon S3 to Japan last yr only to find that the camera was spoilt and I could not take any photo of beautiful Japan....never will I make the same mistake again. Hence.....poor Xian-Jun have to lug it ard for me...hee......).

We slowly walked to the Venetian Glass Museum, Kitaichi Glass Gallery and some musical box shop, which were located abt 30min away from our hotel. But along the way, there were many small shops which we could run into whenever we feel cold. The most satisfying shops were definitely the various pastry places where we could sample the delicious cookies and chocolate. The Japanese are really generous.....U'll never see such big pieces of cakes/ cookies for people to try in Spore!!

In the afternoon, we took the JR to Sapporo. What a vibrant city!! Kinda regret not staying here during my 7 days in Hokkaido. But well.....it's a reason to come back to Hokkaido in future. Enough said.....let the photo speak for themselves.

** Note: No time to edit yet.......haha......the real thing is def more charming.

Day view of the Otaru Canal. A different kind of charm compared to the night view.

The Musical Box Shop cum Museum. The moment you step into the shop, you can hear
music from all the little music boxes and see many Venetian Glass Lamps. Magical place...worth a visit.
Very tempted to buy a lamp for my bedroom...but vetoed by the husband who refuses to carry it back.

The above 3 photo are taken at a cafe in Kitaichi Glass Gallery. I nearly went crazy
here cos the merchandise are sooooo nice..unique...and expensive. Sob!
Ended up only bot some glass accessories...but still fairly happy. The cafe atmosphere is to die for...for photographers.

Night view at the Sapporo Beer Museum. The museum itself is not that spectacular.
But the sample beers were very cheap and the dramatic evening sky made the surrounding grounds
look like somewhere in Europe.

White Illumination 2009. It's a yearly event where the streets of Odori Park (Sapporo) is dressed up with Christmas Lights. Enjoyed the view tremendously from the TV Tower (700 yen) and
the underground shopping (@ Aurora Town).