Ryugashido Cave

About a week and a half ago Jonathan and I went to Ryugashido Cave in Hamamatsu. I think it took us only about 20 minutes to walk through the cave and I've seen more impressive caves in the US, but it was still worth the 650 yen entrance fee. It was cool in the cave so it was a nice break from the summer heat. We're saving money for our summer trips so this was something nice and inexpensive to do.

Biking in Hamamatsu

Last weekend Jonathan and I biked to Tenryu which is a small town in Hamamatsu. We went there because it's near the mountains and we wanted to bike to the mountains.

First, here are some pictures of my bike. I took these pictures a couple of months ago for this blog, but I never got around to posting them.

This type of lock is very typical for Japanese bicycles. The lock is built into the bicycle so you can park the bike anywhere and don't have to find a place to chain it up. 

The kick stand also has a part that locks (not with a key though) so that it doesn't fall over so easily. 

It's illegal to ride a bicycle at night without a light. This one flips so that it touches the tire and the friction powers the light.

Japanese bikes almost always have baskets. Convenient and cute! :)

 The bell! Ding ding ding!

We started Sunday morning by eating breakfast at McDonalds and then picking up some snacks and drinks at 7-11.

I bought tea with the Cheshire Cat on it. 
 

That's a picture I took while Jonathan was pumping up my tires and I was bored.

We rode through Iwata for most of the way, so here's the bridge crossing into Iwata.  

We rode along Tenryu river for a while, but the train ends eventually so we had to ride on streets the rest of the way. They were very quiet though and mostly went past a lot of fields.

The manhole covers in that area of Iwata had flowers on them. The ones where I live have dragonflies on them.

 

That's the bridge crossing back into Hamamatsu. Then we crossed the river again to go into Tenryu.

  

 The bridge in that pictures was a railroad bridge. The train only had one car. So short!

As we headed into the town, it looked like the sidewalk was going to end and we would have to go through a tunnel with cars, but there was a tunnel just for bikes and pedestrians.

It was really cool in that area so we decided to take a break there. We got some snacks from a nearby Family Mart.

This time of year you can find frozen drinks in the konbinis. They're really good when spending time outside because all the other drinks I had that day got warm way too quickly.

We rode around the area for a little while before heading back to Jonathan's apartment.

Tenryu manhole cover

 Hamakita (somewhere between Tenryu and where Jonathan lives) manhole cover

 Beaver crossing sign!

another manhole cover in Hamakita

Overall we biked over 40 kilometers. It had been hot and exhausting, but really nice and fun! :) We later went to the grocery store and I saw this car in the parking lot.

The next week (Wednesday evening, I think) we biked to the Nakatajima Sand Dunes in Hamamatsu. It was probably about 20 to 25 kilometers overall.

We got some ice cream at a nearby Circle K and ate it on the beach. It's not the most beautiful beach (and you can't swim there), but it's still nice and pretty and peaceful in the evening.

We were going to bike to some park today (not far from Tenryu), but it was just too hot and we felt lazy. Maybe some other time! Summer break is so soon! I just have school on Tuesday and half of Wednesday this week!