Frost bitten...part 2.

My friend Chelsea and I broke away from the group one day to go to a nearby city. Otaru is a precious, quaint little glass blowing/making village and know for their night lantern festival during the winter. Here a are a few shots from our day...

Once again the Japanese resourcefulness strikes again!!

Chelsea wanted to relive her professional flower girl days and test out scattering the seashells. she still has it.

told you. buns, frozen!

some guys working on some different snow structures

placing the lanterns in the canal

view of the canal during the day...

and the night...

cutest little snowmen/snowwomen ever!!

had to stop at a local brewery for a snack :)

Ramen has quickly become one our favorite fares in Japan (even though it is Chinese noodles). I would like to think we have become connoisseurs of sort, we eat enough of it to qualify for something. :) There is a "Ramen Alley" in Sapporo with all different Ramen styles, soups and add-ins that we were dying to visit and we did. I won't say how many times we visited in our 3 short days. :)

The Ramen shop that Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" show stopped at! All smiles here!

It wouldn't be a trip with our friends if we did not at least visit one microbrewery or craft beer house. I could have cared less about what bottles of beer they had for sale to actually drink, once I saw the ridiculous amount of unique and random cans of beer they had on display. I couldn't stop snapping. Unbelievable.

found a little bit of Texas in the middle of Japan. :)

and I have some Japan pride too...old Japanese beer cans!

visit to the fish market for some of the freshest seafood in Japan. where they let you hold your crab alive...

and come back in 30 minutes and, well, eat your crab.

the smallest sushi shop and also the most delicious.

mouth full of goodness!

kid in a candy shop. ha!

the. real. deal. you can't make this face up. or for that matter, make this face. it just happens.

A very popular thing to do while in Sapporo is too eat genghis khan at the Sapporo Beer Factory. It is all you can eat, all you can drink for 90 minutes. Let's just say they lost money on the Americans that night.

enjoying a little biru tasting before dinner. aren't these ladies so cute?

beer snobs!

dinner time!

the last afternoon the boys and girls went their separate ways and since I'm not a boy I'm not sure what they did. But the ladies went to The Sapporo Chocolate Factory. Ommpah loompah doopie doo...

i felt like i was in Willy Wonka's factory. it was magical.

"sensory evaluation"?...where do i apply?

don't mind if I due, fondue, that is...

it was a wonderful adventure, one for the books. full of many sweet memories and lots of laughter!