A walk in the park

Yesterday was a chilly but beautiful day, so I went out for a long walk, 11 kilometers by the time I got home. When I started out, I took the following pictures along the river near our apartment.

The first picture was taken as I faced west, the direction I was walking. I was planning to cross the bridge and then walk south for a few kilometers to Shinrin Koen (Shinrin Park). The horizontal white structure is the roof of the soccer stadium where the local pro team plays. On the left in front of the apartment building is a construction site.

The next picture shows the construction site in more detail. When it is finished it is going to be a fire station with five engines and an ambulance. Needless to say, we were very happy to see the work begin.
I turned around without moving from the spot that I was on and took the next picture. The large apartment building is ours. We are on the second floor on the extreme right, behind the house in this view.
After walking about three kilometers, I went over a hill and found the hilltop statue of Amida, which I posted some pictures of last year. It is actually quite close to Ian's home. They are both on the top of the same hill.
After I crested the hill, I turned off to the right and went down a long staircase to reach the access road to Shinrin Koen. An interesting feature of outdoor staircases in Sendai is that they all have a smooth surface, either in the middle or at the sides. These allow people to move a bicycle over the stairs.