Sapporo

We flew from Tokyo to Sapporo on Peach Airlines. From the airport we took the train to Sapporo station. Spent two days/nights exploring Sapp_ro as the locals call it. There are even less Americans and there is less English spoken here.

Jorma wanted a bowl of rice and fish on our first night here. We found it. It was yummy and pricey. We stopped to get a soft serve ice cream cone on our way back to the hotel. Hokkaido is known for their milk. The ice cream was light and not too sweet and the cone tasted like a pirouette cookie.

The weather is cooler here than Tokyo but still pleasant. Jorma was so excited to finally find some dirt and mountains to run on Wednesday. It looked amazing.

Jorma took me back to the park where his trail started and it was a beautiful wooded mountain area right next to the city streets of Sapporo. He showed me the trailhead with the statues, so beautiful. He said they were all along the way to the top of the mountain. We found a shop that sold ice cream, green tea and a freshly cooked treat made of rice flour filled with red bean paste. It was so simple and beautiful. For lunch Jorma found a Soup Curry spot that was so great. It was like what I imagine it would be like to be in a Japanese grandmother's kitchen. Jorma had the special soup curry with meat and I had the vegetable soup curry. We were able to choose our spice level, we chose 5 out of 12. Levels over 5 had to pay more for the heat. It was plenty spicy for me.Read more