I spent the first day that I had in Furano exploring the lavender fields. Unfortunately, the growing season for the lavender was coming to a close. But the smell of this tiny purple flower still lingered in the air. It was a beautiful fragrance. I had also heard that they used the lavender to make ice cream. This was definitely something I had to try. I ate a lot of ice cream on this vacation, and it was all VERY good. This is the lavender ice cream. Delicious!!!
The beautiful fields of flowers in the first flower farm that I visited. I really enjoyed wandering among the beautiful fields. Momma, you would have LOVED this place.
This was the second field that I visited. It was much smaller than the first, but still very nice. The picture was taken from a tiny chair lift that I rode to the top of the hill to get a great view of the valley of Furano below.
A photo of the same field as before taken from the binoculars at the top. I love this kind of picture.
Me at Tomita Farm. This was the third and final flower farm that I visited. It was the largest and best. I must have spent hours wandering around trying to see it all. They had many flower fields, but also little shops and factories, where they were extracting the fragrance from the lavender to make soaps, perfumes and other lavender scented goods. There were also many places selling ice cream. I tried the mango, lavender mix. It was nice.
The beautiful lavender of Tomita.
Then I went back to the hostel to check in and enjoy the dinner that was included in the price. I really liked this hostel. They provided meals with your stay and the meals consisted of many varieties of vegetables that were grown right in the area. Because it was so fresh, the food was very good. It was also here that I met some very nice Japanese ladies. They didn't really speak English, so I was forced to practice my Japanese. It was a lot of fun. They asked me if I could read the Japanese alphabets. I said I could read the alphabets, but only about 40 of the Chinese characters. That is only a drop in the bucket, since there are 2,000 of them. When I said I knew a few, they wanted me to prove it. So one of the men at the dinner table gave me a pen and paper and I showed him a few that I know. I just did easy ones like numbers 一二三四五六七八九十 and days of the week 日月火水木金土. I thought later that I should have written my address, because that is not easy. 愛知県豊田市久保 豊田メモリアルハイツ. But they were impressed that I could do a little kanji.
There were also two girls from Taiwan who didn't speak any Japanese, but very good English. So I served as a translator between them and the Japanese girls. I really enjoyed that role. I just wish I was better at it than I am. Here are two of my roommates and me in front of our hostel. The picture was taken the next morning right before we set out on our different ways.
I spent my second day in Furano checking out the many factories in the area. There was the winery.
Also in the winery, this barrel was set up so you could take pictures. I had to prop my camera up and do a self timer. Immediately after my camera clicked the picture, it crashed to the floor. Fortunately, it wasn't damaged.
The winery was connected to the grape juice factory, where I was able to sample grape ice cream. Delicious.
Then there was the Furano Cheese Factory and Ice Milk Factory. Oh so many factories in this area. Here are some free samples of cheese. They were good.
But also some beautiful wilderness that I was able to wander through for a bit. It was a good day in Furano.
After leaving Furano, I made my way back to Sapporo for the evening because I was flying out of there the next morning bright and early. The last thing that I still needed to do in Sapporo was try the kani (crab). It is very popular, and was recommended to me by lots of people. This is the restaurant where I ate. I found out later that this restaurant is a chain and there is one in Toyota. My server was very nice and only spoke Japanese; she was impressed that I could speak a little and after dinner she gave me a packet of coupons and information about the restaurant, if I want to go to the one in in my town.
Me with my delicious crab dinner. I ended up getting an assortment of little things. Among them were crab tofu, crab legs and these AMAZING dumpling things. The dumplings were my favorite.
The next morning I boarded a plane back to Nagoya and everyday life. As we were flying I began to wonder if we would see Mt. Fuji from the plane. About the time that I was thinking that, the flight attendant came over to me and said, "Fuji is right there" and pointed out the window. I was so excited. I think Fuji is very beautiful. I was glad for the opportunity to see it and take some pictures.
That is the end of my adventures in Hokkaido. It was a great vacation, and I hope to go back one day.
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