Woke up around 7:00 am today and grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet.

Got ready for a day trip to Otaru and headed out to the train station to get a ticket for the 35 minute ride.   At one point the train passes right by the northern coast:

Arrived in Otaru and walked down to the canal to take some photos.   Lots of people walking along the canal.   The weather was cloudy and looked like it might rain bit started to lighten up a bit as I walked.

Walked down a little street filled with shops and restaurants,  which seemed to be the touristy part of town.   Decided to stop for lunch before it got busy.   Had a sashimi donburi and a scallop and spot prawn sushi.   Tried the local Otaru craft beer:

After lunch,  continued wandering down the street and stopped in one of the glass shops.   They had some great looking drinking glasses but I don’t have any space for more glasses.   Towards the end of the tourist area there is a steam clock similar to the one in Vancouver,  but with less tourists crowded around.

Walked back towards the station.

Got to the station early so stopped for a coffee jelly with ice cream at a place in the station.

Arrived back at the hotel for a bit of a rest before dinner.  The sun was coming through the clouds nicely so took a photo from the room.

Headed to the main beer hall restaurant at the Sapporo Beer Museum for my “genghis khan”, which is essentially grilled meat, particularly lamb.   Chose the various lamb platter with some rice and zucchini.   They had some all you can eat sets, but they looked like a lot of food.   Had a couple of the Sapporo Five Star beers,  which is only available at the beer garden.

Glad they have you a bib as grease was definitely flying!  Thought I might try the seasonal dessert but it was sold out.   Probably good as I was pretty full.

After dinner caught the bus back to the station,  which was a quick ride.   Got back to the hotel and worked on getting the packing done as I leave early tomorrow morning for my first flight to Osaka-Kobe.