Beer, fireworks and BBQ lamb

I think the sulphur got to me and I was happy to get up and get moving on from Noboribetsu. We hit the motorway which was so empty it was like driving used to be ‘back in the day’. The car talks to us every now and then, but we have no idea what she is saying – I guess if it was urgent, she would flash some red lights. We hit Sapporo just as the rush hour started, or maybe the traffic is heavy all day. My normal reaction would be to get stressed and grumpy about queuing in a car but none of the usual road rage feelings kicked in and we eventually found our hotel. Bert hopped out of the car and sorted out where it was exactly and I practised calmness. The hotel were lovely – took the car off me and let us leave our bags as we were about 4 hours early. 

We walked to the end of the road and found the botanical gardens which promised a museum of the Ainu people. This turned out to be one small room with quite a few artefacts, labelled in English, but wasn’t  quite what we were expecting. The light drizzle also felt like we were in England on a typical summer’s day. I think the gardens would look fab in autumn, we were just a few months too early. 

Lunch time and Bert found a great local place where we had our first beers and I had my first miso soup and tempura – everything was delicious. 

We checked in and the lady was so helpful – showed us how to use everything in the room and brought us some welcome cakes. Kneeling on the floor of our room, she explained how she would make up the beds while we were out. We went our separate ways into the onsen and while small, it was lovely. I crashed out for a few non-sulphur hours of sleep and woke feeling so much better. 

The beer museum was calling us from the other side of the park, so we jumped in a taxi and just said Sapporo beer garden. Easily done. We went round the museum – bit boring – although it seems like women have been appearing in beer adverts since the 1800s. Time to sample! We went for the full Monty – 3 each – later I realised it was just us having the 3 types per person – English lager louts! We both got a bit giddy and went on a spending spree in the shop…but I was proud that I resisted the temptation to buy chocolate beer jellies. 

Bert had found out earlier (through a match on tinder) that there was a big fireworks display so we headed down to the river (showed the taxi driver a picture of a firework and he did a great impersonation of one). It was amazing. Nearly an hour of oohs and aahs. Thousands of people had lined the banks of the river with most of the girls dressed up in kimonos. Luckily we found a spot near the loos. 

It was then time to seek out the lamb BBQ which had been hightlighted in the Lonely Planet guide, by UBert and by Bert’s tinder match. I had identified a place in particular – Husband will know what happened next – and once we arrived at the said special place, we joined a queue for an hour. Bert was so patient. (Husband – it was just an hour! Dominique Ansell was two hours, no?)

It really was worth the wait! It was a Mongolian BBQ and the lamb was delicious – we cooked it ourselves and I had more beer while Bert went for apple vodka. The kimchi was also fab. There were only about 10 people in the restaurant at one time and we all sat round a central bar with our own BBQ. Took less time to eat than to queue but at least TMS was available while we were standing in line. 

We are off to the middle of the forests today via Furano and some lavender fields. Wonder if they have lavender chocolate!