[Japan] Sapporo - Government House

Since I've started work this year, sometimes I can feel quite exhausted and quite weighed down by the workload.  Do you ever feel like that? Friends have told me that a good remedy would be to either look forward to something or simply imagine/remember something good.  For me, whenever I look back to my one month stay in Japan last December, I would feel so happy at the memories of this experience blessed by God! Because it had such an impact on me, I really want to relive the moments and share them with you as I reminisce.  So every now and then, you might find blog posts on various places I've been to in Japan and hopefully you'll enjoy reading them! Perhaps, one day, you might even go to see these places for yourself (and I defintely recommend you to do so, despite the recent disasters!!!)

So I went to the northern island in Japan called Hokkaido (北海道) and stayed in the major city Sapporo (札幌) for most of my stay.  Since I went in December, I missed my most loved season - Summer - here in Sydney.  But what I gained though was my first time seeing and experiencing snow-ing! Yes, not just snow, but snow formed at the very height wherever the sky lies and fall from there!!! I still remember waking up one morning, rushed to the window and exclaimed with indescrible amusement as I saw this outside the apartment window:

Snow covering the streets, school, cars...everything!!!

Though I must say this excitement died off probably a week or so into my stay there, as I realised the difficulties of having to make twice the effort to walk and battle through the white fluff in order to go from point A to point B.  Not to mention you can never really walk elegantly, but rather more like a penguin no matter how hard you try! Nonetheless, I can't deny how beautiful it does make everything look, covering them in pure whiteness.

Sapporo is city not quite like Tokyo, while Tokyo might be bustling with life and is ever-changing, Sapporo is a bit more slow-paced and although busy, has a sense of peacefulness to it.  There are many great places to visit in Sapporo and we made sure we visited each one of them! We decided to go to one of the touristy recommended places first - the Government House!

All wrapped up in our down jackets on the way to the Government House! The whole place is surrounded by the fence, by which we walked along.

The Government House is quite grand in its style, giving off an old yet respectable stance.

The Government House

As you might be able to guess from the picture, the Government House is surrouned by a huge courtyard.  I would imagine it to be full of colours from the trees and flowers during the other seasons, which would be quite pretty.  But I also quite liked how the snow covered courtyard made things feel a little more...romantic hehe (Not that I was there with anyone of that special kind, but you know...=)

the bridge enhances the romantic atmosphere I think! Can't you just imagine standing there being with your beloved looking out to the lake?

This definitely feels like a scene from some Japanese drama...<3

There are also duckies swimming on the lake...

...and some parts of the lake was actually frozen over! Kinda reminds me of Harry Potter the 6th movie...(if you know what scene I'm talking about?)

The inside of the Government House is filled with the history of Hokkaido, with displays and interactive devices to interest the visitors.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of this.  But to be honest, as much as I respect the history, I found the scenery outside more intriguing.  Though that could just be a personal preference as I love looking at sceneries.

Walking out of the Government House definitely won't leave you feeling dry and overwhelmed with information, instead, you'll feel like a grand princess walking out of somewhere ever so important as you walk down a wide aisle before exiting through the gates.

Goodbye Government House! Feeling like an important citizen of sorts while leaving hehe

Although at first mention of it, visiting the Government House might seem a bit mundane.  But with all the drama like sceneries and photo opportunities, not to mention making snow angel on the thickened pile of snow (yes, my friends did this!!!), boring is definitely not in the dictionary of this visitation!