11th May 2009 – Buffet breakfast at the hotel where you are allowed to eat till you are full. This is also the breakfast that that we had over the past 2 days (9th & 10th May 2009). Consists of different varieties of Onigiri, sausages, salad, eggs, miso soup, croissant, etc.
We took the subway from Susukino Station to Sapporo Station as we need to take JR to the historic and romantic city of Otaru using the Sapporo-Otaru Welcome Pass. For more information, you may want to read “A Day in Sapporo 1“.
While waiting for the train to Otaru, a JR train that serves another route stops at the platform.
Alighted at Minami Otaru Station instead of the popular Otaru Station so that I can walk down towards the touristy Otaru area while exploring the quieter side of Otaru.
The entrance of Minami Otaru Station.
Following instructions from signboard, we walk to Kikkogura Sake Museum. I believe it’s also known as Tanaka Sake Factory Kikkogura.
After requesting for an English pamphlet (which contains the process of sake brewing), we went to tour around the sake factory. Rice used for making sake is slightly bigger then the regular rice that we eat and they are polished down 30% to 60% (according to the brewing standard) until it’s left with the middle white part. Also as 80% of sake is water, Kikkogura uses cold and pure underground water.
The rice goes through a delicate process of brewing before it’s stored.
One of the many displays that show what was worn during the olden days when brewing sake.
Displays of sake barrels. After which, we went on to the sake shop which offers a varieties of sake. You can try 10 different kinds of sake for free here! Find the one you like based on the colour, smell and taste. We managed to find something we like – 300ml at ¥1020.
The Otaru Steam Clock in front of Otaru-Orugel-Doh (Otaru Music Box Museum).
Entrance to the Otaru Music Box Museum is free. We went in to check out what Otaru is famous for – Music Boxes! There are displays of hundreds of different kinds of music boxes, both large and small.
Such delicate workmanship! It’s definitely a piece of art!
Some other designs. You can also try to build your own music box here under the guidance of their staff from the price of ¥1800 onwards. We didn’t go for this as it requires 1 hour for the adhesive to dry.
Found myself being captivated by the table lamp design.
Other souvenirs and crafts can be found here as well. We bought a small pink colour carousel-styled music box at ¥2100, which will turn round-and-round while playing music titled “One Love”.
Passed by this shop but didn’t explore further. Might be a souvenir shop?
We had a melon ice-cream here at ¥300.
Otaru Post Office.
Fantasy World Otaru.
A life-like statue of a bear and dog. Notice the “Hello Kitty” face nearby? Hehe.
Looks like a place for you to experience snow and ice?
Another speciality of Otaru – glass products. Here you can try your hands at glassware making. Prices start from ¥2000 onwards and take about 10mins each.
There are assortments of glassware for you to choose to make.
Bakudan Yaki at ¥380. A giant version of Takoyaki and top up with mayonnaise and bonito flakes. The contents of the wheat flour batter are cabbage, quail eggs, shrimp, octopus, squid, sausage, etc.
Otaru Pier – such a beautiful scene.
A carpark inside a warehouse? 🙂
At the entrance of Otaru Beer. Re-filling in progress!
Otaru Beer is medieval and German styled restaurant that serves both food and beverages. There is also a tour of the process of beer making in accordance to German traditions. Admission is free.
The highlight of visiting Otaru Beer. Sampling of the freshly brewed beer!
Otaru Weiss (small) on the left at ¥490. The other is Otaru Pilsner (small) also at ¥490.
The famous canal of Otaru – with the old warehouses along it’s bank. I can imagine the nostalgic and romantic feeling that it offers during night time as well as winter season.
A musician playing music along the banks. If you like what you have heard, you can even buy his music ablum CD.
Another seller of drawings and crafts.
The other view of Otaru Canal (Otaru Unga).
Lunch time – walk around and decided to have ramen. Total for 2 ramen below is ¥1590.
Miso Ramen.
Shoyu (“soy sauce”) Ramen.
A historical looking shophouse. Below are some other buildings captured along the way.
Kitakaro Cafe for some snacks and coffee. Hmm….did we eat a lot for the day already?
Purchased our snacks and went outside of the cafe to sit at the outdoor section. Kitakaro is famous for their Baumkuchen and we wanted to buy it but the expiry is only 4 days from date of purchase. It won’t make it back to Singapore and will only end up in our stomach. Haha!
¥500 for the set – Coffee, Cream Puff & Ice Cream.
The cream texture is just right as it not too sweet or oily. The outer crust is crispy yet soft and shatters at every bite.
Wine shop.
This shop sells “Hello Kitty” stuffs.
An interesting looking shop. I wander what they sell? CDs? 😛
Former Temiya Line – opened in 1880 and was defunct in 1985. It is Hokkaido’s first and Japan’s third railway line.
Parts of it have made way for the road.
At the entrance of JR Otaru Station to board train back to JR Sapporo Station (still using the Sapporo-Otaru Welcome Pass).
As we still have some spare time and also nearby JR Sapporo Station, we decided to head north to visit Hokkaido University Botanic Garden (10 mins walk).
In this 13.3 hectare garden, there are around 4,000 taxa of plants that are native to Hokkaido to be found.
A snapshot of the greenery.
Signs for Poplar Avenue, Flowering Shrub Garden and Bust of Dr. Inazo Nitobe.
The magnificent view of the poplar trees.
A row of pink flowers. I wonder what are they called? It will be good if there is a small sign near the trees to tell me. 🙁
Dinner time is drawing near. We headed to F-45 building (opposite Sapporo Tokyu Inn, 3 mins walk from Susukino Station) in search of Ebi Kani Gassen (12th Floor) for our craving for crab buffet.
Eat all you can in 90 min. The set we chose is priced at ¥3675 per person and it comes with king crab legs, snow crab legs, shrimp tempura, shrimp sushi, crab sushi, tempura shrimp sushi and egg custard (chawanmushi). You can also add in another ¥1050 for all you can drink beer too!
A close-up view of the fresh and tasty king crab and snow crab legs. Did I hear your stomach rumbling? 😛
From the 12th floor lift lobby, you can see a clear view of Norubesa (a building with a huge Ferris wheel). After which, took a short stroll back to hotel with our huge stomach bulge.
Back at the hotel, we decided to do our laundry. Instructions in English are available.
The washing detergent vending machine which dispense one small pack good for 1 full load wash at ¥30.
There are actually 4 sets of washing machines and dryer available – 2 set on each side. At that point of time, all 4 sets are not in use. The washing machine usage costs ¥200 and the dryer costs ¥100 for 30 mins usage. From our recent experience, you will need a minimum of 1.5 hours run (¥300) for your clothes to dry.
Fruits platter bought at ¥530 from Daimaru (Sapporo Station) for dessert.
五月十一日，酒店吃到饱的自助早餐。前两天我们都吃同样的早餐（九日和十日）。包括不同种类的饭团，香肠，沙拉，鸡蛋，味噌汤，羊角面包等。
我们从薄野站搭地铁到札幌站再转换JR线到历史悠久和罗曼蒂克的小樽市。更多信息，你必须看札幌的一天。
在等待火车的空当，另外一辆前往别处的JR列车停在平台。
我们之所以在南小樽駅下车而不是小樽駅下车是为了探索小樽旅游景点以外的一面。
南小樽站的入口处。
跟着指示牌，我们步行到Kikkogura日本清酒博物馆。也被称为田中萨凯厂。
再要求英文小册子（包含酿酒的过程），我们参观酿酒工厂。制造酒的米比平常吃的米大，经过抛光过程剩下30%至60%（根据酿酒标准）只剩下中间白色的部分。
米经过了仔细的酿造过程再送到储藏室。
众多的显示器中展示了古代酿酒时的衣着。
酒桶展示后。我们到了商店，店里排列许多总类的清酒。您可以免费尝试10种不同类型的清酒。以颜色，味道选者自己喜欢的。大吟醸酒宝川 300ml 1020 日元.
小樽音乐盒博物馆前面的小樽蒸汽时钟。
小樽音乐盒博物馆入场免费的。我们进去看看小樽著名的-音乐盒！有数以百计和各种不同类和形状的音乐盒。
这么精致的手工！绝对是一件艺术品！
其他的设计。你也可以尝试在员工的领导下自己制作音乐盒收费从1800日元起。因为时间有限我们没有参加，胶粘剂需要1个小时才干。
发现自己对台灯设计着迷。
这里也可以找到其他纪念品和工艺品。我们买了一个粉红旋转式的音乐盒，2100日元，它一面旋转一面播放音乐。
经过此店，但没有进去。可能是纪念品商店？
吃了个甜瓜味的冰淇淋300日元。
小樽邮政局。
小樽幻想世界。
像熊和狗的雕像。 注意附近的“凯蒂猫”脸吗？Hehe。
看起来像冰雪地？
小樽的另一转藏 – 玻璃制品。在此，你可以尝试玻璃器制作。从2000日元起。每一个需要10分钟。
有各种各样的玻璃器可选者。
Bakudan烧烤380日元。巨大型的章魚燒加顶端的蛋黄酱和鲣鱼薄片。面糊包括面粉，白菜，鹌鹑蛋，虾，章鱼，鱿鱼，香肠等。
小樽码头 – 美丽的景色。
仓库内是停车场？ 🙂
小樽啤酒。
小樽啤酒的入口处。
小樽啤酒是间中世纪和德国风格的餐厅提供食品和饮料。此外，还参观了按照德国传统的酿酒过程。入场免费。
参观小樽啤酒的特别之处。平常新鲜酿制的啤酒!
小樽魏斯(小)左边490日元。另一个是小樽比尔森啤酒(小)也是490日元。
著名的小樽运河-旧仓库沿着河流。可以想像怀旧和浪漫的感觉尤其是晚上和冬季时。
一位音乐家演奏着音乐。喜欢还可以他的购买音乐专辑。
另一位画家在卖画和手工艺。
小樽运河的另一面。
午餐时间 – 到处走走，后来决定吃拉面。两碗拉面共计1590日元。
味噌拉面。
酱油拉面。
具有历史性的店屋。在路上捕捉其他建筑的镜头。
在Kitakaro 咖啡坐吃些小吃和喝咖啡。嗯 … 今天吃得有点多？
买了小吃之后走到户外咖啡坐。Kitakaro闻名的是年輪蛋糕，我们想买但是有效期只有4天。再回到新加坡之前已把它吃进肚子咯！
一套500日元 – 咖啡，奶油 Puff 及冰淇淋。
奶油质地刚好不甜不油。外层脆软每咬一口都发出吱吱的声音。
葡萄酒商店。
这店销售“凯蒂猫”商品。
看似有趣的商店。不知卖什么！光碟吗？
前Temiya线 -开放于1880年至1985年。是北海道第一和日本第三条铁路。
部分为了道路已被摘掉。
在JR小樽站的入口处登上火车回JR札幌站（仍在使用札幌-小樽通行证）。
仍然有些空余时间也在JR札幌站附近，我们决定向北方走到北海道大学植物园（10分钟步行路程）。
在这十三点三公顷的花园，大约有4000类植物是本土北海道发现的。
好美的景色!
路标显示Poplar Avenue，花木园和新渡戶稻造博士肖像。
壮观的poplar trees。
一排粉红色的花朵。不知道它们是什么？如果有个标志在附近最好。
晚餐时间临近。我们前往F–45大楼（札幌东急饭店对面，大通站步行3分钟）寻找Ebi Kani Gassen(12楼)的螃蟹自助餐。
在90分钟内任吃到饱。我们选择了一套价格3675日元的螃蟹套餐，有帝王蟹腿，天婦羅，寿司虾，蟹寿司，天婦羅寿司，和蒸鸡蛋（chawanmushi）。
仔细查看新鲜和美味的帝王蟹和蟹腿。是你的肚子在叫吗？
从12楼电梯大堂，可以清楚看到Norubesa（巨大摩天轮）的景观。之后，我们走回酒店消化消化。
回到酒店后，决定洗衣服。有英文指示。
洗衣粉自动售货机-每包洗衣粉30日元。
有4台洗衣机和烘干机，每边两套。洗衣机每三十分钟200日元烘干机每三十分钟100日元。以我们的经验，你将需要至少1.5小时洗和烘干衣服（300日元）。