Let's say today was a beautiful day but one that didn’t go to plan one bit. Between both of us being all over the place time zone wise, a lack of sleep and energy from being sick we needed a break. We crawled out for breakfast as it was included in our room rate and all I remember having were a couple of dry and not particularly nice mini pastries and a mug of green tea. I then went back to the room to sleep whilst Ms. Spymon fought a losing battle with the Japanese explanation only laundry room, well I helped a bit along with google translate and neither were entirely successful.



Ms. Spymon also had the hotel cancel our lunch reservation as neither of us were in the place to chow down on a multi-course crab menu.

Feeling brave we decided to walk to the rather lovely Odori park. On the plus side we were never more than five minutes from a toilet stop. Unfortunately there was also a massive food festival in the park.



















After an hour or so we headed off via the metro to Maryuama Park. We had a lovely walk through the park, the weather was absolutely perfect for it and there were plenty of toilets and also vending machines for the best upset stomach drink, coke!









The park and Hokkaido-jingu shrine (supposedly containing the soul of the Emperor Meiji) was well worth the effort. Between the wildlife, buildings and people watching it was great fun and very relaxing.

























However as the sun was fading the real highlight was still to come. On the other side of the park was a winding trail up the hillside with hundreds of little buddha statues and hardly a soul around. Had we both been 100% we would have definitely made it to the top, but between the fading light and our fading condition we called it a day and went back to the hotel for a rest.





















Whilst I slept Ms. Spymon found some reserves and took some more photos of the park by the hotel.









Feeling worse for wear I was craving chips and Ms. Spymon food and we thought that MOS Burger would be more authentic than McDonalds. We did the usual ramble through the love hotels and bright lights around 10 mins later we arrived. Truth be told this place was a bit of a dump with a mishmash of clientele but we ordered our meals and they soon arrived. I was happy just to finish 80% of my food. Lets be nice and say it was ok at best and we were both sad that this was what we had been reduced to.





We called it a night and shuffled back to the hotel hoping tomorrow would bring a brighter day than the salaryman's hangover we were feeling.



Our final morning in Sapporo started with the Ibis breakfast buffet. Again it was not the kind of thing to get me in the mood for food but at least just being in its presence no longer made me feel sick. Same routine as the day before, a couple of pastries and a mug of green tea. Oh well…



We packed, checked out and left our bags ahead of our morning stroll to see the famous old government buildings. Within minutes of exiting the hotel it had become obvious there had been a serious drop in temperature and some cold Hokkaido winds meaning we had to head back for coats before our walk. We nearly skipped this bit of the city and whilst the clock tower was a bit of a downer the park next to the town hall was awash with cherry blossom gently falling from the trees in the wind. Pure magic, every second, so much so we ended up being a little late back to the hotel.












We had a great time in Sapporo all things considered. Up next we head down south to Fukuoka.