Japan day 11 karuizawa

the four of us rented bikes in karuizawa the next day.  look close - we rented from a place called shironeko and all the bikes had cat pictures on them!! it started out cool, but got warm quickly, though not muggy hot like Tokyo.  this town is a  large get away for Tokyoites in july and august looking to get away from the heat.  they also have skiing in the winter. 

my bike!  matt started with us, but when we ran into kiwako-san and satoru-san getting ice cream, he decided he was done biking, and they took him with them. 

Kaitlyn and tony split a bratwurst (tony counted at least 5 sausage houses in karuizawa) and I stopped to have pudding!

phone booth!

we pedaled to this shrine and an American (carrying a Jo-Ann's bag) happened by and offered to take our picture). 

on the way back to the bike shop we happened by a chocolate factory and we scored! free samples of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. 

we turned in the bikes and all went to a huge shopping center near the hotel in town.  there were playgrounds - but you had to pay for them - this one was 400 yen ($4) for 15 minutes, so each of the kids got 15 minutes. 

the place was very pet friendly and in addition to pet stores (where we bought a kimono to fit the cats) there was a dog café, they had a human menu and pet menu. 

we ate at a soba noodle place - cold noodles that you dip in sauce - it was very good! Kaitlyn and I had ours with tempura - yummy!