Finding our bearings

Sky Garden

So we had a night of tossing and turning, it was quite hot in the flat but that wasn't the problem it was jet lag and trying to convince ourselves that we were tired and it was bedtime.  We didn't do too badly in the end, although I had some strange dreams.  Matt woke up with a jump and declared it was 10am so we all got up although we could all probably have stayed asleep a little longer.

We didn't plan to do too much today there was no point, we would all be tired.  We walked down to the Sapporo station area and headed straight to one of our favourite shops: Bic camera.  There we found a food court with bentos (fab - we will be using these on train days).  Then downstairs to a 100 yen shop (can't resist them!) to buy Tom some cheater's chop sticks and up through the various levels of Bic camera.  Believe it or not Matt is not in the market for a camera this time.  He has seen one in the UK that he likes the look of, but it is an extra £1000 here, so it looks like we will be coming back with the same camera equipment.  Tom found the white appliances section and spent a good while looking around the fridge and freezer department: Japanese fridge freezers are massive.  We also found the toy section and had a good look round - lots of pla-rail stuff, but he has grown out of that now.  Nano blocks (Japan's answer to Lego) have really taken off, there are some great design ideas out there - hum, maybe some presents for people...

Top quality ramen

We carried on up through the building (Japanese cities are vertical rather than horizontal) and found ourselves in Loft which is one of our favourite shops.  We looked around and Tom fell in instant love with some sloth slippers!  They are actually dusting shoes, but as he pointed out it would solve the problem of him thumping around in the flat (he can't work out how to walk quietly and thumps and clumps like you won't believe, no matter how many times you remind him!)  He bought them and was very very happy.

Tom with a very tall train

We carried on up, right to the top where there was a lovely roof garden full of meadow flowers.  We were all beginning to get a bit peckish so headed back to the restaurant floor where there was an olde worlde area full of ramen shops (Sapporo and Hokkaido are famous for miso flavoured ramen).  Tom's number one wish when it came to food was ramen so he was a happy chappie and with his new chopsticks he was able to dig in and enjoy it in the proper fashion.  Oh and I found a special Ramen stamp too (we are back to spotting the stamps everywhere we go again) so that was a bonus.

Suitably refreshed we carried on with our day.  We made our way down to the station floor as Tom had requested some train spotting.  Wow, he went from lethargic, to mega busy - watching the expresses coming in and out (no shinkansens here).  He was a happy boy.  We finally managed to drag him away, did a quick tour of the station concourse to check out eki bentos and then headed to Tourist Information where we asked about tickets for baseball games.  One of the tour guides took us to the Fighter's shop where Matt could buy the tickets.  Then back to the station for 3 o'clock donut and then back home for a little rest (no sleeping) before heading out for tea.

New slippers 

None of use were very hungry so we headed for Yoshinoya (beef and onions on rice) which is mega quick and mega cheap.  We were all happy, although Tom needed a spoon for this one as the rice was falling through his new chopsticks.  Then home and bed.

Not the most interesting of days, but we all now know we are in Japan and we have picked up some flyers etc and are ready to put together some good days out.