Sapporo - The Snow Festival

08.02.2007 - 10.02.2007 -1 °C
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I went to Sapporo to watch the Snow Festival last February 2007. It was cold and it was snowing. I was so excited at the first sight when I left the JR Sapporo Station. Everywhere was white! The street was white! The trees covered by snow were white! I couldn’t believe that I really was there. I was excited! I ran near to the JR station sign and stood behind it for a picture. After that, I and my companion went to the opposite direction of the station and headed to the University of Hokkaido. Why bothered to go there? Before leaving home, I did some research on this trip and I saw some “travel must watch” list which included the University of Hokkaido. The picture shown on the list was beautiful (picture 1). I thought I was attracted to this picture and that’s why I decided to get there to take the same picture. Unfortunately, we were not sure which way was right. After a while, there was a Japanese girl, named “Luly” (it sounds like lu ly) led us the way. She was so nice. She was not only showed us the way but also walked with us. She doesn’t speak English and we don’t speak Japanese as well. I tried to talk to her with single word like “ah” and gesture. It was funny. She seemed to not understand what I was talking about but I seemed to understand her. Maybe I’m kind of person who could read a person’s mind! I felt so comfortable walking with a stranger, you know. I asked her if she was living nearby. She told me yes, she was living nearby and she was heading home before she met us. Ken maybe felt a little bit uncomfortable of walking with a stranger or he maybe felt that we should not keep her walking with us for so long, he afraid that she might feel boring. He talked and talked. I noticed that the girl was kind of bewildered and asked us if everything was going all right. I only told her okay because it was difficult for me to translate all the words Ken said to her in a language we both understand. So we just kept walking. The sky was getting darker, and she said she was about to leave. We took some picture with her. That was her and the Palm Tree site in the University of Hokkaido.

Every year, at the Odori Park of Sapporo will hold a great Snow Festival. There are hundreds of snow statues and snow sculptures along the Odori Park. They were not as huge as I expected. Most of them were medium size, like the picture below.