Day 32 and 33 - Hokkaido Shrine and last day of moving to Tokyo

Day 32:

Hey everyone. It's nice that you're taking the time to read our article again. On our last full day in Sapporo we wanted to treat ourselves to some culture. So, well rested, we drove to the Hokkaido Shrine. Of course, we had breakfast beforehand. The shrine was relatively remote, located in a small forest. Once we got there, we took all the time in the world and walked around the park for a bit before heading to the shrine. This was quite large but relatively unspectacular, which is why we returned from there after looking around for a while. We strolled through the forest for a bit. When we had enough, we went back to the city center to look for souvenirs and souvenirs. We looked around there for a while. When we had had enough and because the late afternoon was slowly rolling around the corner, we went back to the hostel.

After a short break in the hostel, we drove back into the city in the early evening. There we walked for a while through areas that we hadn't explored yet and soon we were hungry. So it was time to look for food again. By far our favorite activity (not). The whole thing was once again easier said than done. In total we spent about two hours wandering from restaurant to restaurant and either couldn't find what we were looking for or were turned away. The mood remained good, but Jule was really hungry. After walking to a non-existent McDonald's we spotted an Italian restaurant in the distance. That should be it now. Luckily they still had exactly two seats for us. These were located directly at the bar but at that moment we would have eaten off the floor. I (Moritz) had two margarita pizzas because they were quite small and you had to order at least two things. Jule had a pizza with avocado and salmon, as well as baked vegetables. The pizzas were just like you would imagine pizzas to be in Asia. Not good but not bad either.

Well fed, we went back to the hostel as it was getting quite late. We ended the evening relaxing in the common room with a game.

Day 33

Hey everyone :),

Today was our last moving day. We take a plane from Sapporo back to Tokyo Haneda, where our hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport. We did that right away because we are flying back from the same airport when we go home.

Our flight today leaves at around 11:45, which means we had to get up around 7:00. This time we had already packed our bag the day before so that we could sleep a little longer. When we woke up, there still wasn't enough sleep... we left the hotel at around 8:00 a.m. and had to get my suitcase back down the stairs. So I grabbed him at the top and Moritz at the bottom and somehow we managed it that way. I have bruises from this action now, but whatever. I would say it's my own fault.

The way to the airport was quite unspectacular, as here in Japan, unlike in Germany, every train arrived on time. The train we took also went directly into the terminal, which was really convenient. When we got there we looked around a bit and grabbed a small breakfast at the convenience store. At the train station you could even buy crabs for ¥15,000, about €95. I'm just wondering what to do with it... Well no matter. We didn't have the time and especially not the money to buy something like that anyway.

Soon we went to the security check and then to the gate. Everything went smoothly. Not even the plane was late. Today I sat in the middle, as Moritz usually takes on the role. The legroom was a little smaller than on the outbound flight, but that wasn't too bad. We would only fly for 1 1/2 hours anyway. But even after an hour and a half I didn't miss the opportunity to go to the toilet (greetings go out to Dad). We were even served drinks. A service!

The flight time also felt like nothing to us and we arrived in Tokyo quicker than we thought. Picking up our suitcases was also very quick and we were out of the airport within 20 minutes at the latest. A train also left the terminal at this station, which was very convenient. So we got on the first train straight away and were at the hotel after 20 minutes. Why 20 when I only said 14? Of course we got lost for a bit, but that was largely due to Apple maps.

When we arrived at the hotel we hoped to be able to check in straight away, even though it wasn't yet 3 p.m. We immediately wanted to ask at reception whether this was possible. So we entered the hotel. There was a big (fake) tree in the middle of the lobby and I just thought to myself “Huh, that’s cool, why is there a tree here and why is everything in a forest style?” On the way to the counter I noticed something else strange: a large dinosaur head sticking out of the wall and as if that wasn't enough of a shock, there was a very creepy receptionist standing next to the dinosaur. “Jule… she’s not real, is she?” asked Moritz, very confused. I also got the creeps for a moment. That's right, we booked a hotel with robots... completely forgot... After the initial shock was over, we approached and realized that we could probably ask these three nice characters less specific questions. But that wasn't a bad thing, because we both found out that, for better or worse, we had to wait another hour. So we sat down in the waiting area and got something cold to drink from the machine.

After an hour of relaxing and waiting, we were finally able to check in. The nice dinosaur who explained the steps to us even spoke English. Check-in went relatively quickly and we soon arrived in our room where we took a shower.

We stayed in the room for a while before we finally decided to try McDonalds. So we made our way for 30 minutes to one where you could also order the food online and pick it up. When we arrived we only discovered that this option was no longer available and when we were inside the store we knew why: it closed two hours earlier. The mood was heated because we last ate at 10 a.m. and it was now 7 p.m. So we quickly set off to a ramen shop, where we were turned away because it was full. That wasn't good at all. On the way to our last option I discovered a restaurant that was very empty and we were immediately assigned a table there.

The great thing about the restaurant was that you could order from a tray and there was free tea. So it's an absolute win-win situation. In addition, the food there was much better and cheaper in everything than at McDonalds. I ordered a portion of ramen, fries (they still had to be) and various tempura. Moritz had soba noodles with two portions of rice and fried chicken. He also had the great idea that we could once again take advantage of the all-you-can-drink offer for ¥290/€1.90 and so we tried out the different types of gingerale (with lemon or melon, for example). Everything was again very tasty and we were really more than full at the end.

Afterwards we went to a Spielo, it's called Round1 and it's also Moritz's favorite Spielo. We found it quite funny that she was relatively close to us, because we and our hotel are really on the outskirts of Tokyo. But we're not complaining! The great thing about Spielo was that you also had some 10¥ machines instead of just 100¥ (it gets expensive over time..). So we spent time emptying the 10¥ machines. Moritz in particular had a lot of talent this evening and probably got 10 squeaky toys.

At some point around 10 p.m. we wanted to leave and take the train back to the hotel, but when I was looking for a route I realized that the last train left 10 minutes ago... so it was a 35 minute walk back. But that wasn't so bad for us, we slowly got used to the whole running thing.

When we got back to the hotel we played around a bit and then soon went to bed. Tomorrow we were supposed to go to Yokohama because we mainly wanted to look for a few souvenirs. Let's see how it works out.

Thank you for reading and see you soon!

Moritz and Jule :)