For one week in February the city of Sapporo hosts a snow festival showcasing over one hundred snow sculptures and ice carvings. In a neighboring port city of Otaru, they also celebrate their cold winter with a festival snow walk. Best of all these two events typically fall on the same weekend.
Sapporo is the capital of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which is famous to the ski community for its cold, dry and abundant snowfall therefore making a great home for a snow festival. To fully appreciate each festival, you'll have to venture out at night - so come prepared with plenty of warm clothing.
Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri)
The festival began when a group of local high school students created a few snow sculptures in Odori park. Sixty-six years later it has evolved into a massive festival with three main areas drawing two million visitors a year. The Odori park features the large snow sculptures, over a hundred "smaller" snow sculptures, concerts, ski and snowboard competitions and other performances. The Susukino Site is located close to Odori park and features over a hundred ice sculptures on the streets. Further out of town is the Tsu Dome Site featuring snow tubing and more snow sculptures. We weren't able to visit this last area since it was too out of the way. The event is free so feel free to check it out multiple times (like we did); just don't skip a visit at night. One of the highlights is viewing the large snow sculptures illuminated at night.
Our travel adventures with Peter in Japan.
From the Sapporo TV Tower you are able to see down the festival's main area - the 1.5km long Odori park.
We did a walk through Odori park and the adjacent Susukino Site during the daytime admiring the sculptures,
watched artists put the finishing touches on their pieces and kept warm with
Japanese style carnival food. It was definitely worth visiting during
the daytime. The crowds are manageable and you're actually able to admire the many sculptures without losing the feeling in your toes.
One of the main sculptures.
Of course there was an anime snow sculpture
The finishing touches on the international contestants sculpture competition.
I haven't seen many ice sculptures, but some at the Susukino Site are awesome.
Q tried okonomiyaki.
Fresh crab grilled over charcoal in its own shell. A definite winner in our books.
A return night walk through the festival gave us an opportunity to watch the snowboarding competition and to admire the amazing animations on the larger snow sculptures.
Susukino Site's Ice sculpture. Best place to find outdoor bars.
Our favorite sculpture from the international teams - a crazy tuk tuk from the Thailand team.
The Otaru Light Path Snow Festival (Otaru Yuki Akari No Michi)
I find winter to be completely romantic. Strolling the streets of a Japanese town at night by the warm glow of candles set in the snow and ice, in my opinion, this might be the most romantic festival I have ever been to.
Each area had a unique design.
In the Temijasen Kaijo area, close to the former abolished Temiyasen railway line. A volunteer photographer was helping the line of tourists take photos.
Right from the train station platform, snow lanterns warmly greet visitors and help guide you to the two main attraction. The are two main areas (Unga Kaijo and Temiyasen Kaijo) are beautifully illuminated and both are walking distance from the train station and each other. The lanterns are kept lit between 5-9pm by volunteers for ten consecutive days. This event is free and open during the day but best seen at night when it's illuminated. It was difficult to illustate the beauty of the town by only a few photos. These are just a few of the many we took.
In the Unga Kaijo area by the Otaru Canal.
Natural elements like leaves and flowers were incorporated into the ice lanterns.
Different styles of sculptures lit up different areas.
One area was decorated with ice owls
The whole town gets in on the action. Shops, churches and the schools make use of the large snowdrifts at their front door and have fun with it. It's worth a stroll around the town in order to discover the fun creations the locals have constructed.
We found a little ice igloo outside a restaurant.
Even the Colonel got in on the fun.
It is cold outside so wear your Sorel boots, wool socks and bring along a
thermos of tea. There are a few warm treats along the way. Some entrepreneurial people sold grilled seafood along the street. Another person was grilling mochi and giving it out for free! Just hanging out by
the warm grill was already a treat. We followed up our two hour walk with an
amazing dinner of warm soup and cold soba at Yabuhan. The Japanese menu and restaurant full of locals was a clear sign we were in the right place for some authentic soba and the whole meal exceeded our expectations.
Grilled seafood along the street.
It was as cold as it looks.
The soba was so good that we couldn't be bothered with slowing down for a photo.
Other sightseeing in Sapporo
In case you were wondering, Sapporo beer is from Sapporo. With only two full days in town, we didn't set aside time to visit the factory or relax in their beer garden. We were able to fill our bellies with other local specialties. We grabbed a seat in one of the many restaurants along Ramen Alley for some local ramen and gyoza.
Looking for our lunch time "refueling" along Ramen Alley
Sweet corn and a knob of butter is the typical local additions to ramen.
Just outside of the city center is the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We toured the museum, got our free cookie and indulged in more sweets before braving the cold outside. It was a nice way to spend a couple hours but wasn't the highlight of our day.
View of the factory is part of the museum self guided tour.
We strolled the downtown area checking out hipster coffee shops, video arcades and warmed up in the underground malls.
The underground mall: a perfect solution to get to the subway without losing a toe to frost bite.
Additional thoughts
For anyone considering a trip to Sapporo during the Snow Festival - book your accommodations early. We underestimated the popularity of the festival and waited until a month before our stay to search for accommodations. With all of the reasonably priced (and less reasonable priced) hotels fully booked, we considered ourselves lucky to find a bed and futon in someone's home. But truth be told, we found the Sapporo Snow Festival to be overhyped. On the other hand the Snow Walk is one festival we thoroughly enjoyed.
French traditional street food, unbelievably picturesque medieval town, and french geese - can things get any more charming? The October weekend trip to Annecy in France to celebrate their Retour des Alpages exceeded our expectations. We showed up just expecting to see grazing animals parade down the street, but the additional festival in this beautiful location made for a full weekend. Living in Europe has allowed us to experience small festivals that are harder to catch if we still lived in the US. On our never ending hunt for the next festival, we learned about the "Retour des Alpages" (French) or "Alpabfahrt" (German), which is the celebration of the return from the alps.
Annecy, France is located just outside of Switzerland in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region.
History
As the autumn fades and the high grazing lands morph into a wintery wonderland, pasture animals are brought down to the villages where they are keep warm in barns until the spring. The tradition of celebrating the return of the grazing animals to the village (as well as their return back to the alps in the spring) dates back to the Middle Ages. This celebration has historically taken place throughout alpine Europe and is still celebrated in many villages. Traditionally, villages hold this ceremony when the weather is suitable for the animals to move locations. This uncertainty of date complicates planning for those wanting to watch. The most famous ceremony of this type in Northern Switzerland is in the village of Appenzell. Few villages keep the same date from year to year, which facilitates planning. Annecy holds theirs on the second Saturday of October.
2014 Retour des Alpages Poster
Festival
Starting at 9AM, Annecy steps back in time by transforming the old town into a family friendly traditionally themed festival. Scattered throughout the village you'll find several stages with live folk music and traditional handicrafts for sale. Vendors sell local foods like sausages, fried doughs, cheeses and fresh apple juice throughout the streets. Maps of festival are available at information booths, which are attended by multilingual staff.
2014 festival map
Annecy's old town during the Retour des Alpages Festival.
Fried handmade treats prepared on location.
Sausage in a baguette. Plenty of food venders to keep us satisfied until dinner.
Throughout the festival, one can find traditional craft demonstrations and a few places where visitors can give traditional craft-work a try. We really enjoyed that many people worked in the festival wearing traditional costumes.
Rural lumber sawing demonstration.
High quality hand woven baskets for sale.
Traditionally made butter; formed and available for immediate sale.
Even opportunities for young visitors to get their hands dirty.
Just outside the old city wall, animals are kept in waiting pens for their big moment in the parade. In addition, we found small animal pens at two of the main squares: Place Sainte Claire and Place François de Menthon. Visitors are welcome to visit the animals and snap a few photos. These pens are not petting zoos; they're an opportunity for young kids and kids at heart to see the animals up close.
In the middle of the action at Place Sainte Claire.
The animals seemed to enjoy all the attention.
The Parade
The festival's grand finale is a parade of farmers, traditionally dressed locals, musicians, and farm animals. Just before 2PM, venders along the parade route pack up and the streets become thick with spectators with their cameras. At half an hour before the parade, we secured a nice spot and waited for the start. Too bad some pushy lady decided she wanted our sport and stood right in front of us - grrr. Positioning for that perfect photo can get competitive.
Clearing the parade route.
All the hard working farm hands made an appearance.
We are all young at heart.
First time witnessing obedient geese.
Finishing off the parade with a herd of cows!
The number of spectators in the old town can be a bit overwhelming. If
you want a little more breathing room, then it's best to view the
parade further along the route in the newer portion of Annecy. This will
also buy some more time if you're arriving late because the parade moves slowly.
View of Retour des Alpages Parade from our room at Hotel des Alpes in the newer portion of town.
The town of Annecy
Aside from the festival, Annecy made for a nice weekend trip. If it weren't for the festival, we would have kept busy just strolling around the charming pedestrian old town with its picturesque walkways, enjoying the Sunday farmers market, window shopping in the many bouquets, and visiting the historic sites. Annecy is located right along Lake Annecy's edge and in close vicinity to the alps. It is a popular springboard for road or mountain biking, hiking and simply enjoying time by the lake.
Annecy's Palais de l'Ile
Picturesque spot for a farmer's market.
Sampled several flavors of nougat before selecting which we'll bring home.
Annecy's Sunday market, where we stocked up on dried sausage.
Like any proper trip to France, we brought along our appetite ready to try the local specialties while still indulging on favorites from home.
Trying Tartiflette and a selection of local cured meats at Le Bon Lieu.
French dinner with a river view at Le Bastringue. Clever idea of turning a kids book into a menu.
Sometimes an expat just needs a bagel sandwich, at Boston Cafe.
Getting to Annecy
Traveling from Geneva, Switzerland to Annecy, France by public transportation was a breeze. After a short walk from Geneva's central train station to the city bus station, one can take a direct bus to Annecy's central train station. You can alternatively drive half an hour from Geneva to Annecy. Since we enjoy using public transportation and we didn't want to deal with finding public parking during a festival, we figured it would be best to take the bus and train.
Switzerland's amazing public transportation system never gets old; especially with a new book to read.
