Tsurumai Park

I went to Tsuramai Park today by bike.  Along the way I visited the school but found nobody (was a holiday).  I also stopped at the OSU area to check out the computer stores - again!  Anyways... in total it was about a 20km bike ride.  I took a whole bunch of pics on the way - sadly my camera batteries were very low but the phone pics turned out just fine.

Hehe, this is how a stop sign looks like in Japan.  止まれ (meaning stop) is usually just written on the road but sometimes there is a sign (which looks like a yield sign!).  The kids crossing sign was ok but I wanted to capture the one which has the deformed kids... I saw it just before this one so maybe next time!

Quite often you see these old style homes.  I don't think all of them are temples.  The well pruned trees are always nice to see.

Right in front of the Tsurumai Park is the Nagoya Institute of Technology.

The park is quite large with a few ponds and lots of place to relax.  There was also quite a number of people relaxing.

This building is the Nagoya University Hospital - medical division of the university.

Tropical Island:

This building has a large auditorium that is being used for concerts and such (MM is coming here in November - hopefully I can go!).

Large rose trees.

Fish and turtles were gathering around the bridge.

Some pics of the trip from the park to OSU.

Here is an example of a drink vending machine (this one with Coca Cola items) that sells both cold (blue) and hot (red) cans of stuff.  The hot stuff is mostly coffee...

... although I had to have a hot milk tea! Hehe, probably not the best choice for a hot day while biking but it was good.  Most of the machines you find only have the cold drinks.

Took a few pics of this nice shrine.  I think I already photographed it before :P.

A typical "larger" street.  You can bike on the road but it is probably safer on the sidewalk.  Although there isn't all that much room to pass somebody.  Granted, there are some that are half of that width on some smaller streets.

On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food to make dinner.  First, some packages of strange mushrooms.

Finally some beef.  I marinated it while waiting for the rice cooker (it's slow!) in sake, sesame oil, and soya sauce.  I wanted to add mirin but the mirin I bought at the store turned out to be mirin vinegar (basically rice wine vinegar).  Doh!

Here is the final dish.  Nice stir fried beef, some mushrooms fried with onions, rice, and some salad with sesame seeds that I bought at the store although I wasn't too pleased about it - a bit too sweet kinda tasting.

That's it for now.