Arrival
Once we arrived in Sapporo, we went to the Japan Railway (JR) office to get our train pass to Otaru. This is a good deal at 1500 yen if you are going to Otaru, a small town 40 minutes from Sapporo, as the pass includes the train fare to Otaru, and also a day of Subway rides in Sapporo. These can be used on different days too. And the pass is only available to foreigners. Then we took the airport bus to Susukino, the entertainment district of Sapporo and where our hotel is located. There are also airport train to the Sapporo station, but then we would have needed to transfer to subway, whereas the bus will take us directly across from the hotel.
Airport Bus
Hotel Mecure
We picked the Hotel Mercure because of its convenient location in the middle of Susukino, and also it's new and is just celebrating the first year anniversary. The hotel is extremely clean and modern looking, with shops, bars, subway and all kinds of restaurants close by. There is no wifi, but the cabled connection is fast and free.
Hotel Mercure
TV
Bathroom
Sapporo Activities
As soon as we checked into the hotel, we went to the famous ramen alley next to the hotel, and had some delicious scallop ramen to get enough energy to do some serious shopping, that is, to shop for replacement clothes for at least the next day. With past lost luggage experience, we know the airlines will compensate for some of the expenses. On the other hand, since our luggage was delayed in Nagoya, and we were now in Sapporo, we were not quite sure whether we will have to deal with Lufthansa, or ANA, or even UA since UA is the ticketing carrier. Or maybe we will get the run around. So we only went for bargain hunting, and got a shirt, a pant, a dress, some underwear and toiletries for less than 15000 yen, which must be considered quite cheap in Japan. We also stopped by MOS burger, a popular fast food chain in Japan, to have some green tea cake with green tea latte, which was excellent. And finally for dinner, we had some delicious sushi.
Ramen alley
Scallop ramen
MOS burger
Green tea latte and cake
Sushi restaurant
Sushi and grilled Octopus
Egg tofu
When we went back to the hotel, we found they set up a self serve table for coffee, pastries and blueberries. It's interesting to see they have free breakfast food in the evening. When we went back to our room, there was a message to ask us to pick up a fax in the lobby, and it turns out to be a fax from Lufthansa explaining the reimbursement policy, which is 100% toiletries and replacement clothing and 50% for other items. At least we know we have to deal with Lufthansa, and not ANA or UA.
Coffee and pastries