ROSES, FOG AND FERRIS WHEELS

Today Yuki, a former BSU exchange student and soon-to-be grad student, accompanied us to Mt. Moiwa (one of the bigger mountains across the Toyohira River past the downtown area). Our plans included visiting Chizaki Rose Garden, about a 15-minute walk away from the Mt. Moiwa skylift entrance, then riding the skylift up to see the city during daylight and back down again once it became dark. 

We took a cable car to a stop close to the base of the mountain and followed Yuki up a suburban hill to the rose garden. It wasn't too steep of a hill, but apparently we Americans were completely out of shape because a track team ran past us three times in 10 minutes. Hopefully Yuki wasn't too embarrassed by us. 

View of the city behind us as we walked up the hill

Chizaki Rose Garden costs about $5 for admission. The garden holds countless types of roses from not only Japan but Germany, Australia, France, England and America and provides benches, trellises and statues for photo backgrounds.




The "Empress Michiko" rose





We also peeked in Cafe Rose, a combination gift shop and ice cream parlor, and picked up some rose-flavored soft serve ice cream cones. Verdict: Cookies and cream is still my favorite, but the flavor was refreshing. I was disappointed the ice cream didn't smell like roses, though.


After finishing our ice cream cones, we boarded the skylift (1000円 for a roundtrip ticket) even though the employees warned us of incoming fog clouds.



As we went higher, the fog clouds we had been warned about came full force, and by the time we reached the top, we could see nothing. As in, I couldn't see Yuki and Jess more than five feet away. There was no point in looking at the skyline from the observatory balcony, so we bought souvenirs from the gift shop instead. Sapporo is an attraction for more Japanese than foreigners, and the souvenirs were geared toward native Japanese tourists. I did buy a card game involving Hokkaido-ben, Hokkaido's dialect of Japanese, and some candy from Shiroi Koibito, Sapporo's famous chocolate factory.
We waited until after dusk to ride the skylift back, and luckily we were able to see the city lit up about halfway down.


Disappointed and with empty stomachs, Yuki suggested a restaurant in Susukino (I forget the name right now) which specializes in soup curry, one of Sapporo's local cuisines. Verdict: Delicious. Very.



Not wanting to leave for home yet, we rode the Ferris wheel above one of Susukino's karaoke and restaurant centers - yes, this Ferris wheel is literally on top of a skyscraper! - and saw a better night skyline than we could from the foggy mountaintop.





NOTE: My camera's battery died halfway through the trip, so many of the above photos are courtesy of Jessica, yet again.

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