Our first stop was the Site of Sendai Castle. Most of the information ended up being in Japanese, but we went inside the little museum that they had. After looking at all the displays, we watched an informational movie about the history of Sendai Castle.
Outside had a beautiful view of Sendai City. We spent some time taking pictures before deciding that we were both hungry and wanted something to eat. We went back to the restaurant we had seen and were just about to go upstairs to try out some food when we caught a glimpse of the English on the menu. All they served was beef tongue; not to mention that their prices were about two thousand yen. We decided to wait until the Botanical Gardens to see if we could find a cheaper meal.
The bus stop for the Botanical Gardens was at Tohoku University (that's right, I was on a Japanese College Campus ^^). We were slightly confused when we first got off, but quickly found our way to the entrance only to find that we had to head back up to Daily Yamazaki store to buy our tickets. We also bought some snacks and spent a few moments sitting outside and eating/drinking (in Japan, you are not suppose to eat or drink while walking. At the same time, they have vending machines everywhere). We did not spend much time in the Botanical Gardens--it is definitely worth a trip back, especially when it reaches more spring-time weather.
Next we traveled to the Osaki Hachimangu Shrine, which had a lot of steps. Poor Ashley did not have the best shoes for the stairs and rock pathways, but she made it up all the same. We did our fortunes (which involved me asking in Japanese how much they cost, and then the priestess speaking English pretty well. We said "arigato gozaimasu" and she replied "you're welcome."). Ashley's fortune said that if she tried new things she would find happiness. Mine said something along the lines of if I tried new things with the help of others, it would bring us both/all joy (or something along those lines).
On our way back to the hotel, a young Japanese student (probably high school) came up and said hello to Ashley. She was so surprised that he was speaking English, that it took her a moment to understand what he had said. He told us he was from Sendai and asked where she was from (most of the conversation had been directed at Ashley). He then asked a question in Japanese, and when she tried to look it up in her little travel dictionary he started saying something about size and related what he was trying to say to McDonald's. At the next corner we turned, and he and his friend continued on.
We met back up with Wesley and went for dinner. Afterwards I tried again for the pair of half pants in the arcade. When that did not work, we went for a hunt for athletic socks but could not find any.
We also tried to play some one yen pachinco, but it ended up only taking bills and so we gave up and came back to the hotel. Tomorrow I move to Yamoto, and so need to get some sleep. I still need to finish packing real quick. I have the television on, and it is interesting to see all the different commercials and programs. I had it on the channel aimed for younger audiences, but iCarly came on, and so I changed it. I keep hoping for another sumo match....
You can watch sumo matches in May(every other month, for two weeks).
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