Tsukisamu and Makonomai

Saturday we went shopping for a sunhat for Miss Elisabeth. We had big plans to take advantage of the great weather (sunny, warm, gorgeous!) and go for a picnic at a park but first we wanted a sunhat, sunscreen, and a picnic blanket. Off we went first thing in the morning. 

Sunscreen was easy, we found that at the pharmacy across the street. Then we took the subway down to Sapporo station, since Kevin found a Hello Kitty store in Apia, the underground shopping mall there. 

The Hello Kitty store was great, but unfortunately no sunhats. :( We didn't buy anything else there either. So off we went around Apia, looking for more stores that could sell a baby sunhat. We ended up walking around all of Sapporo station and the numerous stores and shopping malls. There's actually a couple attached: the underground Apia and then the connecting ESTA mall. I'm pretty sure it's split into more shopping bits, but those are the two big names anyway. They have a lot of stuff, Bic Camera, the Gap, Daimaru, etc etc etc. There's even a Cath Kidston store where I wished I had about 80e to drop on a canvas tote. (Hahahahhahaah). 

We ended up spending so much time looking for a sunhat and not finding one, that we decided to fudge it and go to Ario (the mall we discovered by chance that had the Toys R Us) because we KNEW there were tons of kid's clothing stores there. So off we went in the warm sun to Ario, on foot like usual. 

We got a little turned around but fortunately we found it! YAY! 

We did indeed find a sunhat. No picnic blanket though. :( And we spent ALL day there. Yeah, we went through the whole mall and had so much fun perusing that we ended up leaving at about 5 pm! 

So much for picnics...

So we woke up Sunday morning rearing to go and enjoy the weather... well, it was an overcast day. Go figure! We decided to go ahead and picnic anyway since we missed out the day before and after much debate, we decided to go to Seiyu for some quick sushi and then to Tsukisamu park which is relatively close by. 

Elisabeth was so mad that she had to wear a hat and shoes. She hates them both and we spent the whole day putting them back on after she pulled them off. She's always barefoot because she pulls her socks off too immediately. 

 

We found the park and ate our lunch (starving by then of course!) and then kind of bummed that the park wasn't bigger, we took our sleeping Elisabeth away from the noisy park (lots of kids), and headed out for plan B, Makonomai park. 

Giant slides!

 

Blooming azaleas everywhere.

 

Primroses :)

 

We decided to walk to minami hiragishi station since it was equal distance on Kevin's map to hiragishi station (1.6km) and along the way we found a gorgeous park tucked away between buildings in a neighborhood. The views were breathtaking and you could see as far as the TV tower in Odori park! Gorgeous! We spent a while here admiring the views and such since it was the perfect little hidden gem of a park and the kind of place we wished we had eaten lunch at! 

When we finally made it to minami hiragishi we debated whether or not we should just walk home or if we should catch the next train south to Makomanai. In the name of adventure we decided to just go for it and I'm glad we did! The park itself is the whole area and there are three paths you can take. We decided to just walk in direction of the river and see what we find. The bridge was inviting and I'm so glad we went on it! 

Gorgeous views of Toyohira river. Everything is really turning green now, I love it!

We got on to the sidewalk along the river with the intention to just walk a little bit... well we ended up walking the whole way home along the river! I'm so glad we did, we saw lots of cool things along the way and the mountain views were just gorgeous. We saw our local Mt Moiwa from a different angle and generally, we were just closer to the mountains south of us that I always admire on my walks. 

Sister, this railing along the road made me think of you!!

 

A (free) water park for kids, empty at the moment but definitely going to have to get a bathing suit for Elisabeth this summer!

 

Compare this view to this blog post on April 8th. :)

 

Once we got home, we were sooooo tired. Kevin calculated that we walked roughly 11+ km (6.8 miles) that day. He made miso ramen for dinner and then we were out like lights! :) Great weekend once again!

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 ;)