My alarm went off at 5.30.\u00a0 No surprise – Kaoru was out (in the onsen).\u00a0 She came back just as I was getting out of bed.\u00a0 I had a shower to wake me up and we went downstairs.<\/p>\n
On the bus to the ropeway (cable car) I ate the breakfast I had bought last night.\u00a0 It wasn’t much but kept me going.\u00a0 It was quite cool – I had 2 t shirts, a long sleeve T shirt, and my jumper on.\u00a0 I was OK but wouldn’t have wanted it to be any cooler.<\/p>\n
We caught the ropeway up looking at the autumn colors, covered by cloud.\u00a0 It was quite pretty.\u00a0 There was a very light hint of rain and as we left the ropeway building we were able to grab a light waterproof overcoat and umbrella.\u00a0 We walked around for a bit and enjoyed the scenery.\u00a0 Then we went on top of the ropeway building.\u00a0 This view was amazing!\u00a0 in the 10 minutes we were up there it changed from foggy to clear to a white out!\u00a0 I played around with the hyperlapse mode of my camera and got some good effects.<\/p>\n
We caught the next cable car down and had to walk back to the hotel.\u00a0 Luckily it wasn’t raining.\u00a0 We walked through the village which was closed but quite quaint.\u00a0 And then it was breakfast time.\u00a0 Another buffet, but we didn’t go overboard today.\u00a0 After breakfast I decided to have another onsen (I was the only person in there) and then we finished packing and went downstairs to check out just after 9.<\/p>\n
I had a hot chocolate and we met Michael and Leila downstairs, and we boarded the bus at 9.30.\u00a0 We drove for about an hour through some beautiful countryside, which took us to a spot where we had an hour to walk around.\u00a0 We had a short hike but the view at the bottom was better than the top due to the fog \/ cloud.\u00a0 It was also a few degrees cooler here than back at the hotel \/ ropeway we had been at earlier.\u00a0 I’m glad I didn’t bring a jacket just for this but also glad it wasn’t any cooler.\u00a0 Hard to believe I would have been fine in shorts back in Sapporo yesterday.<\/p>\n
We were all back on the bus early so we left about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.\u00a0 This meant we were going to be at lunch before they were ready for us so we made a slight detour to see a waterfall.\u00a0 We weren’t allowed out of the bus because we would have been late but it was an impressive waterfall.<\/p>\n
Lunch was at the same place as our second stop yesterday.\u00a0 It was pretty average unfortunately.\u00a0 It had tempura which I would have been happy to skip. But a beer helped wsh it down.\u00a0 We had a look in the shop again and then reboarded the bus.<\/p>\n
We all had a bit of a sleep on the next leg.\u00a0 Our stop was the same as our first stop yesterday.\u00a0 We bought a profiterole which was gigantic – famous in this area, apparently.\u00a0 We also bought an ice cream which was very creamy and delicious, plus a beer for our final leg.<\/p>\n
Finally, after a very enjoyable trip, we returned to Sapporo.\u00a0 We said goodbye to our guide and walked back to our hotel to check in. I set up my computer to address a couple of quick things and we went to Michael and Leila’s room, to plan our next day.<\/p>\n
For dinner we went to Bikkuri Donkey, which translates to “Surprise Donkey”.\u00a0 We had a meals worth of jokes going about that!\u00a0 It was a cheaper place where kids go after school, to get hamburg steak.\u00a0 I had one with cheese and potato salad mixed through the mince.\u00a0 It was quite nice!<\/p>\n
We then went to a shopping centre for Leila to do some shopping.\u00a0 Michael saw a label in the complex for a gaming centre so we had a look through there.\u00a0 We couldn’t understand most of the games.\u00a0 I had a go of the Japanese drums game, choosing a couple of classical tunes so I knew them.\u00a0 It was fun and killed some time.<\/p>\n
Back at the hotel (via 7-11, of course) we went to Michael and Leila’s room for some sake and sweets.\u00a0 We went back to our room about 10.00 and went to bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My alarm went off at 5.30.\u00a0 No surprise – Kaoru was out (in the onsen).\u00a0 She came back just as I was getting out of bed.\u00a0 I had a shower to wake me up and we went downstairs. On the bus to the ropeway (cable car) I ate the breakfast I had bought last night.\u00a0 … Continue reading