Sendai 'n stuff

HI am part of a running club... They're based in Missouri.  But I am a member, even though I'm in Japan!!  Here I am, represent'n!!

I found these kit kats at the grocery store off base... I had to google directions.  You're supposed to bake them!  The lady at the cash register said they're biscuit and yellow jelly flavor.  I've also heard marshmallow, and so many other random things... I'll just have to bake 'em and try 'em!!

I love this pear fanta!  It is refreshing!

Flowers are starting to pop up!!

Nicole ran the moustache dash with me... She was less than thrilled that I produced an orange 'stache... 

She did awesome!!!

As soon as we got cleaned up, we hit the road...

Saw a ton of new sights...

And finally made it to Sendai.  The city of trees.  And shopping!  

They apparently have plenty of funny stuff there, too!!

It reminded me of New York City, but not as big.  Busy, commercialized, and expensive!

Their manhole covers are square!

We went to Rikyu (I think that's how it's spelled!). Sendai is known for their beef tongue.  This restaurant has the best...

They even serve their rice differently.  They have this porridge (the small blue bowl up top) that you pour over the top and mix in... That Kirin really helped with washing everything down!!!

There is a strip that cuts across a large portion of the city that is just for pedestrians and shopping.  Cars cross at some points, but they don't drive down the shopping district!  It went on forever and there was at least one of every type of store!  Clothing, electronics, stationary, toys, dollar stores, and plenty of food... It was fun to look at everything!  (And buy fun stuff, too!)

I particularly loved this sock store!!!only 60¥ for a pair of cute socks!  That's like 60 cents!!

Nicole 'n doc found their game.  They bought a set and disk for the WiiU, but it turns out it's only for the Japanese wii...

I miss American donuts.  These are fun, but not satisfying when I want a donut!!!

I'm not sure if that's the actual translation, I should go look it up.  That's an intricate konji for a little word!

There was a Greek church in the middle of town!!  It was really pretty.  

The continental breakfast was interesting, as expected.  I kind of stuck with the things I know!  And chocolate cornflakes are always good!!

Nicole loves this good luck cat, he's all over Japan... But this one is singing karaoke!

We took the loople (it's kind if like the San Francisco street trolley!  Without the clanging!)

We stopped at the shrine of the first samurai.  He was a bad dude.  (I don't remember his name). His son and grandson are also buried at the same site, but the first guy was the worst!

 These grave sites were interesting...

They have a spot for insence.  And beer offerings. 

I thought these were cute!  I'm not sure what they represented... They weren't the 7 dwarves.... We saw them in the next garden!

This huge bell is rung when you pull back that log and hit it.... It's really loud, too!  

Here are the 7 dwarves!  And it looks like they're with little red riding good, not Snow White.... And the fairy godmother is in the back!  The Japanese have their fairy tales mixed up!

Then we walked up this hill to the shrines.  The grass on the sides grow with the rain runoff.... But it's really pretty!!

This is that bad dude's shrine!  

Pretty intricate!!!  And beautiful!

The original temple collapsed with an earthquake, but these dragon statues survived.  You're supposed to rub his nose for good luck... As nic aptly demonstrates!! 

The shrines are gorgeous!  The man on the right (I wasn't supposed to take his picture!  The Japanese don't like it!  It's rude!!). He was our guide.  He spoke in broken English, but he did an amazing job!  And he was so grateful to us since the U.S. sent aid to Japan a few years ago after the huge earthquake.  He was very grateful, appreciative, and had wonderful things to say!!  He even said I did a good job of trying to communicate with him in Japanese!!

See, she's always cute!!

These represent the samurai's men, as in his specific warriors.  

Apparently there's a giant hand that comes out of the trees and hits you, but we never saw it...

Back on the loople bus...

I didn't know they had a YMCA in Japan... A Christian organization in a Buddhist country?

Cute telephone booths...

Then we went to subway.  A Japanese subway.  

I had a prosciutto and mascarpone cheese sandwich with pesto that was delicious!!!

We saw shrines on street corners all over the place... With Tori Gates!

And my store...

I think this is a manhole cover, too.  Those are pictures of paper lantern type things that they usually have at festivals and parades.

And what are we doing for the nice tomorrow???

Oh thank heaven!!!

We found the Japanese Disney store.

I was paying attention to the grammar, not which floor we were on.

Is that a creeper??

These two cute dogs were outside of an animal hospital.

And there are the Learys!

Next time we should stay at this library hotel!

We went to the Westin for dinner and this was the view from the elevator!!

One of the restaurants with this cool woodfired pizza place!  It was pretty good.

I had these delicious steamed mussels.  They had a spicy tomato broth... 

This sign says for your joy... Obviously it's a Pachinko parlor!!!

This is an advertisement for a book that we found... It was weird.   We ended up buying it and we're going to give it to someone for Christmas.  Watch out!!

Is it a tiger or a lion??  A liger?

And Santa has been on this roof for a long time...

We stopped to see this amazing view!

As we hiked back down we came across this beautiful tree!!

On the way home, the convenient store was selling these chocolate covered crickets... I didn't have any!

Instead we all haske dinner from this vending machine that produces hot food.

 And I saw the watermelon again on the way home!

Back home in time for April fools... But doc never commented on it... I wonder if he even saw it! 

Anyway, still an amazing view in misawa!

tink and I went to the beach today and as I was collecting Seaglass this man came over and started helping me.  Every time he found a piece of glass he brought it to me!!  I didn't even know his name but I thanked him over and over!

We did good!!