Day 3, Part 1 continued

Location: Sapporo, Hokkaido, Tokyo
Weather: -6 deg, cloudy
Author: Amy

Chrissie fell asleep writing the previous post so I will be continuing our Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Factory adventure.

After the pretty pretty fountain (looked quite magical because of the soft yellow lighting), we started the 'journey'. We even have 'passports' detailing the tour and cute little neko (cat) footprints on the floor to guide us where to go.

There is amazing attention to detail in this place. It seems that everything has been carefully thought through. Not just the exhibitions but even the lights, the stairs, the flowers, ceiling... We didn't take pics but above the fountain, the ceiling was painted with cherubs flying around. Very much like a church ceiling. They were trying to create a Victorian period feel there.

For example:

Stained glass ceiling


Beautiful chandeliers along all the hallways


Ornate mirrors scattered throughout

There were a few parts I remember the most from the chocolate factory. One was the teacup rooms showcasing all sorts of teacups from all around the world. Maybe I should have said chocolate cups... But seriously, there were A LOT! Maybe 3 rooms? All displayed in shelves and cupboards and all very ornate and beautiful (and expensive looking). I think almost all of them are antiques. Nothing from Dome cafe here...

Then we came to the label rooms which displayed chocolate boxes and labels from when chocolates were first made and sold to the public. I think I recall that back when chocolate was first discovered, only the rich could afford it and it was almost a sinful extravagance. Now it is still a sinful extravagance but so much cheaper. I have been having chocolates everyday. Chrissie has been polishing off a whole box of almond chocolates everyday. Honestly! She gets one box every day and by the time we go to bed, I think she's finished it.

Anyway, then we came to this room. For lack of a better word, I'm going to call it a 'story tunnel'. It is a dark little corridor with another room parallel to it, partitioned by glass. We weren't sure what we were expected to see until we stepped in and suddenly the lights in the other room came on and we could see little puppets in an olden day chocolate making factory. Then suddenly, a light appears and 2 little kids pop out of nowhere! And a great big voice booms out!

These 2 kids suddenly appeared!

Yup! It was a light projection. I thought it was pretty cool cause it's quite unique. The great big voice was the 'Chocolate God' explaining how chocolate was picked, cleaned, roasted and made into blocks.

After the story tunnel, we arrived at the actual production line. It's amazing how much chocolate biscuits they make here! And everyone was dressed like it was a biohazard room. Very sterile and clean.

Chocolate production line

If you looked real carefully, you will see us in the picture. Find Chrissie and Amy! Can you see us? Answer below...

Hi!

After that little bit of fun smelling all the biscuits and chocolates being baked, we continued the tour. Here it sorts of detours away from chocolates cause the next section we came across was...

Wedding cakes!!!!

I'll show you the most BEAUTIFUL wedding cake later.

The next totally unrelated (to chocolates) section was the toy collection. I'm sorry we didn't take a lot of pics here to show you just how many toys there were but we took some smaller sections.

Pokemon!!!


Me taking Chrissie taking Pokemon but actually trying to show Hello Kitty behind for Von


More toys!

There were also toy planes and model trains but cause we're not boys, we didn't care much and so didn't take any pics.

Chris did take a pic of this though and got a 'reward' for it...

Skeletal bike.... scary....

When Chris was taking this picture, the bike roared to life!!! And scared the little kiddie that was next to us... Ha ha!!

Then we went to the little cafe to get some afternoon tea. We chose the 3 cakes + drink selection for 1000 yen. This was what we got.

The yummiest cakes ever!!

My favourite was the bottom one, the fruit tart. That was voted No.2. No.1 was a strawberry fruit tart, which I didn't get. I think Chrissie also liked the fruit tart a lot. I know she loved the strawberries and gobbled up the big ichigo (strawberry) on the strawberry shortcake. Strawberries are very very sweet here in Japan. I have never tasted such sweet strawberries outside Japan.

Ah! And here is the wedding cake that truly wowed us. Danny, please pay attention.

The most beautiful cake... sigh... *hint hint*

After the tour inside, we went back outside to try the slide and take more pictures. The slide was a total failure cause I had to shuffle and shuffle to try to even slide down the slope. I think it wasn't steep enough. And I know what you're thinking, Danny... Bad Danny! >< Chrissie managed to squeeze her way into one of the doll houses.

Chrissie in Wonderland

And that was our Shiroi Koibito (White Lovers) Chocolate Factory adventure...

Coming up next is climbing up Mt Moiwa (by cable car of course) and the Sapporo night view!