July 8

Holy smokes what a day . . .first, Uli and I got out at 10am to hike up to Moiwayama a mountain southwest of our apartment. It took us about an hour to get to the base of the 531-meter mountain, then about 45 minutes to hike up the trail to the summit. Once there the view was spectacular, although it was a bit hazy and felt as though it was a repeat from the JR Tower. In any case, I am glad we did it, and I got some pretty good and funny pics on the way up and down the trail.

Pictures from Moiwayama

Around 6pm Alex, Emilie, and I left for the Biru-en (I think translates to Beer Garden), or what I like to call “heaven” and Alex refers to as merely “church”. In any case, the one we went to was associated with the Sapporo Brewery. At this wonderful establishment, we had all you can eat Genghis Khan and Sapporo Beer. (Genghis Khan is a type of BBQ using lamb meat . . . they gave us our own little hot plate) We started eating (and drinking) around 8 and closed that puppy down at about 10:30, when the servers were respectfully showing us the door.

Some pictures from the Biru-en . . . more to come

After the Biru-en the night gets a little bit more hazy . . . First, we went to this awesome Karaoke bar with a huge pic of Stevie Wonder on its sign. This one was a bit different from those in the States, as we got our own private room (so that noone else suffers I suppose). We paid for an hour in the room (includes free drinks) and hilarity ensued. Let’s just say that Emilie’s rocked-out version of The Carpenter’s “The Rainbow Connection” can never be duplicated, or attempted again for that matter. She crushed it.

Pics for this event are forthcoming (still in the process of getting them from all cameras involved)

Next, we started walking home (as we missed the last train of the night . . . they stop running at midnight!?). As we got close to our apartments, we stumbled upon this little bar that was advertising live music. It just so happens, that they were playing 50’s & 60’s style rock and roll, and that Chris, a New Zealander who lives with his wife at an apartment in our international student complex, plays sax for the band. Needless to say we twisted and hand-jived until the last set ended around 4:30 am (it had already been light for an hour at that point). What an exhausting evening (and morning). Lets just say I was so “tired” from being out all night that I crashed my bike while parking it, completely abusing my knee. Instead of worrying about it or the state of my bike, I decided to limp away from the wreckage to my apartment and ultimately to my bed.

A combination of pics from the pub are also in the works