From the Factory to Ario

On Sunday, we went shopping! Our main goal for the day was to find Elisabeth, some new toys since I brought the bare minimum with us and she was starting to get bored. Her favorite toys are the two farm animal puzzles we have at home, so obviously we were on the lookout for puzzles. I wanted anything Hello Kitty ;) 

The Sapporo Factory is a large mall that promised a toy store. We found a large arcade and a small toy store, but nothing we were really looking for. The mall itself was pretty, with an atrium complete with a local radio concert (fun!), and indoor garden. It was a little hard to navigate with the elevators though, as we were traveling with a stroller. 

The stores were all a a little higher end. There was some cute baby/kids stuff and a whole floor of sporting goods and clothes (made me think of you Sister!). We were a little bummed about not finding a toy store (we thought the local toys r us was there), so we gave up after a while of walking around to head to the Sapporo Beer factory for lunch since it's apparently something tourists just must do...

(side note: they sort their trash here and if you can see, you're supposed to even take the plastic caps off your bottles before you put them in the bottle recycling!)

 

Fortunately though, we got a little wee bit "lost" and found Ario, another mall! This one had a big ol' Toys R Us sign on the side of it -- YES! 

This one was not as uppity and PACKED with families. We could have spent more time here, but we just really wanted some toys and lunch so we didn't spend a whole lotta time going up and down in the very full elevators. 

 

What's that coming?

 

 A train!! I want to ride it probably more than the kids that were on it! :D 

  Once we found our way to an exit, we realized that 1) it was now snowing, ugh.

2) The Sapporo Beer museum etc was right behind Ario. Another win!

Alas, we didn't end up even eating there. It was a little more expensive than some of the places in the mall (which had its own restaurant street), so we turned it around and went back in. 

We chose a place that some other family went in, which to us made it clear it was family friendly. We even got a high chair...without straps? Elisabeth sat ok in it for like 10 minutes and nibbled her snacks. 

 

Kevin ordered udon noodles with shrimp. 

 

I ordered what I thought would be either pork or chicken.

It was chicken. Delicious.

 

I want a lemon wedge squeezer now. 

 

We watched dogs and owners walk though the park while we ate. We miss ours. :(

Afterwards, we had the task of finding out how to get home. We headed South hoping to run into Odori park but actually noticed the JR tower of Sapporo Station. Much closer!

We found it! Yay! 

The ESTA building and JR tower are another mall area that we will have to check out one day!

 

Was so nice to get home finally! Sapporo station is always really busy and yet again, we seemed to have hit a high traffic time (even though it was Sunday). We folded up the stroller and I held Elisabeth. I got a seat fortunately, since there are designated seats for the elderly and mothers with small children. And no one else ever sits in these!

We stopped by the grocery store, picked up some honey for tea and some ice cream for a hankering and home we went. 

Was such a fun day despite the cold, wet snowyness. Can't wait to go back again!

As for what we bought her? You'll just have to check back and see ;)