Sapporo day 1

First day off the bikes for a few weeks, so taking it easy. Quick stroll around the CBD, straight to a sweets-and-dessert fair of course, via a bakery. Checked out the excellent museum at the former Hokkaido Government Office, set up by the colonising Shoguns from Honshu to turn Hokkaido into an economic asset - turning forest into agriculture, building roads and railways, establishing a capital city (Sapporo), displacing indigenous Ainu as they went. We then stumbled across a really interesting underground Ramen restaurant that specialises in dipping Ramen. Using different thick wheat noodles the soup broth (shrimp) is served separately and you dunk the noodles before slurping them up very noisily.Read more