A winter vacation (Part 1)

The kids were all excited about their 1st winter vacation. However, it got off on a shaky start. Our flight was delayed for 3 hours, and it threw our plans off. Instead of arrving at 8am in the morning, we did not get to the hotel until 1pm. By then, the kids were already tired and cranky!!

So instead of the tempura lunch at Asakusa that we had planned, we ended up eating near the hotel. Then it was back to the hotel for a nap. We did not manage to venture off far on that 1st day as our bodies were acclimatising to the cold weather. The kids were thrilled when we went for dinner as they recognised the location to be one of the spots where the show, "I survived a Japanese Game show" which was recently telecast on our local tv, was filmed!! So the rest of the trip they went "Hai! Majide!"

The next morning, when I drew the curtains in my room, I was surprised by the view I got!

It was Mount Fuji!! On my previous trips to Japan, we did not always get to view this magnificent mountain of theirs, but there it was in all its glory, on that clear winter morning. Things were going to go well on this trip, I knew!!

That morning, we made our way to Tokyo Disneyland. It was freezing (even tho the temp was supposed to be 12C, because of the wind chill factor) due to its location at Tokyo Bay. The kids had a wonderful time meeting up with the disney characters, and taking the rides. It was really crowded as it was a Sunday, and average wait for rides was an hour!! However, the crowd was orderly and patient.
With Daisy Duck


(Little D shaking hands with a disney character)


(On the "It's a small world" ride - one of Little D's favourite rides)



We even had to wait an hour just for fast food at lunch. Here's my half eaten Mickey pizza:


The next morning, we made our way to Hokkaido!!

Lunch was at a small little BBQ place, The service and food was excellent, and the lunch room had huge glass windows looking out showing this view:

Then it was off to an outlet shopping mall. Whilst I browsed around, the kids had a great time making their 1st snowman and throwing snowballs (of what little snow they found by the road side) at the tour leader!
(Their tiny snowman)


(Throwing snowballs)


Then it was off to Noboribetsu! Here our hotel had 32 onsens!!Sorry, no photos allowed in the onsen, so here, take a look at the lovely chandelier isntead:

The next morning, we packed up and made our way to Cape Chikyu. it was freezing here, but the view was beautiful!!


There was a light house at the cape!


Lunch was by Lake Toya, and everything we had was scallops! Scallop sashimi, scallop tonkatsu, scallop soup, scallop rice, scallop chawan mushi, scallop ... Mind you some of the scallops were really giant ones, up to 6 inches in diameter!!


Our next stop was My Usu!. We went up via cable car, and trekked up part of the mountain to view the smoke coming out of the volcano's crater. It had last erupted in 2000.
(On the way up)

(See the little hut at the top of the hill? That's where we climbed up to)

(The smoking crater)

After this we made our way for ice cream, and then to Rusutsu, a ski resort. (To be continued)....