Wednesday Morning walk

You might notice that I finally realized that I should change the title or this series. I took these pictures on a Wednesday morning when I met Ian for our first regular walk since the beginning of summer. The change began with the pictures in the subway. This first picture today is the parking area outside the Kita Sendai train station. Usually this space is full of taxis but for some reason there were none on this day. This is only for taxis, regular cars are not allowed to park, although they will stop to let out a passenger. The structure in the middle with the three upright posts is a rain shelter at the bus stop.
This is looking straight across the street from the station. The building with the large white sign is a yakiniku (BBQed meat) restaurant. These are generally Korean style, at least vaguely, and you are served a platter or raw meat and vegetables which you cook yourself on a gas or charcoal fire at you table. On the right behind a truck is the building where Ian and I end up after our walks - Mr. Donuts. When we return to the station, we always stop in for coffee and a donut. We stay for an hour or so, taking advantage of the free refills. Then just before 9 a.m. Ian goes off to work and I take the subway to the Asahigaoka bus terminal, eventually reaching Miyagi Gakuen U. where I have three classes in the afternoon.
After Ian arrived, we walked to the park and did our usual lap around the grounds. The path is close to three kilometers long and has some fairly high hills. It is a good workout. We enter the park at the top of a hill and the path goes along the ridge line and then down into a flat valley, where it reverses direction and parallels the ridge line, going up the hill again to reach our starting point. The two directions are unequal in the amount of exercise they provide. A clockwise trip has a steep down hill with a relatively short and mild uphill portion. Going counterclockwise means that we go down the mild slope but up the steeper one. I guess I should mention that the steep slope actually goes up then down and then up again, with the up slopes quite steep. Since both Ian and I did not walk much during the summer, we decided to take the easier direction.

In the flat valley there is landscaping and sculptures. In one place there are a number of life-size statues of chicken. Why chickens? I have no idea.
This display also includes some polished piles of various colored stones. The chickens are perched on the smaller stones.