Sapporo Snow Festival Part 5: Mt. Moiwa Ropeway
Saturday, February 21, 2015
After walking around Nakajima Park for a while we went to a nearby tram stop and headed to the Mt. Moiwa Ropeway.
I had been hoping to get to take the tram decorated with Snow Miku that I had seen on a flyer, but we got an old, ugly one. Though we did pass by the Hatsune Miku one later so at least I got to see it! :)
The trams are one of my least favorite forms of transportation. It wasn't really the oldness of them that bothered me, it was the waiting platforms. They're so narrow and just out in the middle of the street. It's not really a pleasant place to wait.
We got off the tram at Ropeway Iriguchi station. We saw a shuttle bus nearby but weren't sure about it because there weren't many people on it. It wasn't too far of a far walk to the ropeway anyway, though the sidewalks were quite slick.
Then at the ropeway building I used the restroom and had to take a picture of this hilarious sign.
That bathroom was my favorite that I have ever used in Japan. It wasn't super fancy, though it was nice and clean. The thing that made it amazing was that the sinks had HOT WATER. It was the first time I have ever seen hot water in a public restroom in Japan. SO AMAZING. My hands are super super sensitive to cold and sometimes turn white and numb (or even swell up and get bumps when exposed to the cold for too long) and the best way to get them back to normal is to use hot water. But when that happens in Japan I can't just go to the bathroom to wash them in hot water.
Then we bought our tickets and took the cable car up the mountain.
The cable cars are big and can hold a lot of people, but they weren't too crowded then.
The view was really pretty!
Then we reached another station and transferred to a car on tracks.
Going up that steep track kind of made me feel like we were heading up the first hill of a roller coaster, haha.
The view at the top was sooooooo pretty! I had expected the city view because I had seen it online, but I didn't know that there would be such a nice view of the mountains!
We didn't have anything else planned until night so we decided to stick around and see the sunset and night view as well. We wandered around a bit outside, sat inside for a while, went back outside for a while, went back in... I was bored a little bit, but overall it was fun.
I didn't eat that chocolate then, but I had bought it earlier at 7-Eleven and hadn't taken a picture yet because my camera broke right after buying it. It was a box of Popping Shower ice cream flavored chocolates. I thought the insides would be soft but they were crispy. The popping candies were fun though. So these chocolates were interesting and fun, but nothing I would get again. I prefer the ice cream.
There were some trails around there that led to nearby skiing areas I think. It would have been nice to walk a bit further but it was a bit too steep and we didn't have proper shoes.
Jonathan enjoyed sliding down a small hill.
In the little cafe area Jonathan got a hot chocolate. I wasn't hungry or thirsty and didn't want to spend money, but I did have a sip of his. It was really really good!
Pretty sunset!
After sunset it got a lot colder so we stayed inside while it got darker. We eventually went back out again around 5:30.
There was a love bell there. Jonathan and I had rung it earlier. That guy just rang it by himself, haha.
The night view was very pretty and I'm glad that we got to see the view in both the day and night. But if I had to choose between the two, I prefer daytime because of the mountains. You can't see the mountains well at night.
The cable cars were very crowded on the way back down. The place got a lot more crowded at night. I still had a decent view from the car, but I couldn't walk around at all like I had on the way up.
On the way back we took the shuttle bus and then took the tram back to Nakajima Park.
The Mt. Moiwa ropeway was a bit expensive (1,700 yen for the round trip tickets) and I hadn't really wanted to do it at first because of that, but it was definitely worth it! It was my second favorite part of the trip. My favorite part of the trip was Nakajima Park at night, which is where we went next! :)
I had been hoping to get to take the tram decorated with Snow Miku that I had seen on a flyer, but we got an old, ugly one. Though we did pass by the Hatsune Miku one later so at least I got to see it! :)The trams are one of my least favorite forms of transportation. It wasn't really the oldness of them that bothered me, it was the waiting platforms. They're so narrow and just out in the middle of the street. It's not really a pleasant place to wait.
We got off the tram at Ropeway Iriguchi station. We saw a shuttle bus nearby but weren't sure about it because there weren't many people on it. It wasn't too far of a far walk to the ropeway anyway, though the sidewalks were quite slick.
Then at the ropeway building I used the restroom and had to take a picture of this hilarious sign.
That bathroom was my favorite that I have ever used in Japan. It wasn't super fancy, though it was nice and clean. The thing that made it amazing was that the sinks had HOT WATER. It was the first time I have ever seen hot water in a public restroom in Japan. SO AMAZING. My hands are super super sensitive to cold and sometimes turn white and numb (or even swell up and get bumps when exposed to the cold for too long) and the best way to get them back to normal is to use hot water. But when that happens in Japan I can't just go to the bathroom to wash them in hot water.
Then we bought our tickets and took the cable car up the mountain.
The cable cars are big and can hold a lot of people, but they weren't too crowded then.
The view was really pretty!
Then we reached another station and transferred to a car on tracks.
Going up that steep track kind of made me feel like we were heading up the first hill of a roller coaster, haha.
The view at the top was sooooooo pretty! I had expected the city view because I had seen it online, but I didn't know that there would be such a nice view of the mountains!
We didn't have anything else planned until night so we decided to stick around and see the sunset and night view as well. We wandered around a bit outside, sat inside for a while, went back outside for a while, went back in... I was bored a little bit, but overall it was fun.
I didn't eat that chocolate then, but I had bought it earlier at 7-Eleven and hadn't taken a picture yet because my camera broke right after buying it. It was a box of Popping Shower ice cream flavored chocolates. I thought the insides would be soft but they were crispy. The popping candies were fun though. So these chocolates were interesting and fun, but nothing I would get again. I prefer the ice cream.
There were some trails around there that led to nearby skiing areas I think. It would have been nice to walk a bit further but it was a bit too steep and we didn't have proper shoes.
Jonathan enjoyed sliding down a small hill.
In the little cafe area Jonathan got a hot chocolate. I wasn't hungry or thirsty and didn't want to spend money, but I did have a sip of his. It was really really good!
Pretty sunset!
After sunset it got a lot colder so we stayed inside while it got darker. We eventually went back out again around 5:30.
There was a love bell there. Jonathan and I had rung it earlier. That guy just rang it by himself, haha.
The night view was very pretty and I'm glad that we got to see the view in both the day and night. But if I had to choose between the two, I prefer daytime because of the mountains. You can't see the mountains well at night.
The cable cars were very crowded on the way back down. The place got a lot more crowded at night. I still had a decent view from the car, but I couldn't walk around at all like I had on the way up.
On the way back we took the shuttle bus and then took the tram back to Nakajima Park.
The Mt. Moiwa ropeway was a bit expensive (1,700 yen for the round trip tickets) and I hadn't really wanted to do it at first because of that, but it was definitely worth it! It was my second favorite part of the trip. My favorite part of the trip was Nakajima Park at night, which is where we went next! :)