check it out the next day and if we could get the same deal, we would stay in Sapporo for an extra day, as we both really loved the place.

We were up handy again as we had a list of things we wanted to do and see. Our first stop was Hokkaido Shrine which was in a lovely park. We had a good wander through the park and there was a little less snow in this park so it made walking around a little easier. The Shrine was really peaceful even though it was a busy place. They are perhaps not quite as grand as some of the temples we have seen over the past few months but they are still definitely worth visiting. After this we wanted to head up to the ski jump which wasn’t too far away from the park and shrine. It felt like a pretty long walk up the hill to it, but it was so worth the effort. At the bottom of the jump, it showed a temperature board, it was around midday and the temperature reading was

-4.2!!! How cold??? God knows what temperature it got down to at night!!! The ski jump had been built for Winter Olympics in 1972, but they still used it for loads of competitions as skiing is big business in Japan. Thankfully they had a chair lift so we jumped on one and headed uphill. The views from the top were outstanding and it was really good to see all of the landmarks we had been too. You could even see in the distance the football dome, the very space age looking one that they used in the last world cup! Again we took loads of photos and got really cold but thankfully it was toasty warm in the observation lounge, so we spent a little longer in there than outside. The views from the chair lift on the way down were even better, as you were facing down over the city but the wind chill - brrrr it was a truly face numbing wind! Although it had been a very cold activity it was really good and we were both amazed to think that it was our second ski jump