Hokkaido - The Winter Wonderland: Day 7

It was a long day spent on traveling on bus and train all the way from Utoro, Shiretoko back to Sapporo yesterday, so we were really tired and had a good night rest sleeping till about 8am today. By the time we were down at the restaurant for the breakfast, there were already many people. As you can see from the following pictures, it is not a big restaurant and the buffet spread was not that big in varieties but i guess it is sufficient for most people. My favorite has to be the bread (rectangular shape) in the first picture below. I think it was a milky bread, tasted very nice even when not applying anything on it.

After a quick breakfast, we had to walk quickly to the bus station in the ESTA building for our reserved free tour of Hokkaido Shrine, Shiroi Koibito biscuit factory and Sapporo Central Wholesale Market. The meeting point for this free tour was at the following Sightseeing Bus Counter. At 9am, the tour guide lead us down to the bus bay to board a tour bus. There were about 14 persons in this free tour.

First stop at the Hokkaido Shrine. Personally i don't think this is the highlight of the tour, the shrine looks pretty ordinary, didn't have that "wow" factor.

Second stop was the Shiroi-Koibito Biscuit factory (otherwise formally known as the Ishiya Chocolate Factory). We were only given 1 hour to tour this factory so it was a rather rush tour. Ticket was 500 yen (i think), just 100 yen cheaper than when we go there ourselves. It was like a whirlwind tour, throwing in a very short 10 mins buying some cakes and coffee to eat in the cafe. Ideally, this tour should be longer (maybe 2 hours) so that we can eat our cake, drink our coffee more leisurely, and then shop leisurely for the Shiroi Koibito biscuits and souvenirs. Do note that the biscuits can be found everywhere in Sapporo and even in the airport. The price is standard, so it may make sense to get it at the airport.

Last stop is the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market, just a short distance from the Shiroi Koibito Factory. This is interesting simply because we get to see the live king crabs, lots of them, and many food stuffs to see and buy. Just note that the price may not necessary be any cheaper since we are "tourist".

At the end of the tour, we were given the option to alight at the Sapporo Clock House, instead of returning back to the Sapporo bus station. This is near the Sapporo Snow Festival venue at Odori Park.

Due to the warmer weather this year, this "Snow Miku" snow sculpture actually collapsed just after we visited it! We didn't witness it collapsed but heard over the TV news that night.