Dangerously Cheesy: Day 25

Today didn’t get interesting until after dark. Stopping only a few times (once at a cool river lock that looked like a bunch of giant alien brains!!), we easily biked the remaining 60 km into heart of metro Nagoya where Scott’s friend Yae met us at the station. Once at her apartment, we immediately filled it with our gear before showering to go out.

Usually, the team just wanders around new areas until we find a restaurant we like the looks of. So, it was nice to be led by Yae since she knew a place to go. A brief subway trip away was a very nice all-you-can-eat pizza/pasta place. As Pizza Marino discovered, “all you can eat” are dangerous words to say to a team of mid-20s men who cycle all day, every day. For only 2000 yen, we gorged ourselves. Cheese is hard to come by in Japan, and I think we took the restaurant staff slightly off guard when we cleared the buffet table every time they put out new pies. It was delicious. Yae’s friend Haruka also came, and we had a good time conversing in an odd, broken Japanese and English combination.

After the pizza buffet, we went to a nearby arcade and did “purikura,” a fun activity involving lots of friends in a photo booth with a time limit and a post-shoot editing pen. Japanese kids have scrapbooks full of all their purikura. The pictures also make great souvenirs. Below are two of the pictures we took.

After this, I decided to turn in early and headed back to Yae’s apartment while the other four went to karaoke. I don’t mind singing my heart out in front of other people, but it’s Mother’s day and I wanted to call my Mom. It was nice to talk to her since it’s hard to stay in touch while on the trip. After we said goodbye, I turned in just as the rest of the team was coming back.

It was a nice day.

Thanks for tuning in! See you tomorrow.

~Andrew

Rider Condition:

Crash: Mellow
Calves: Ka-ra-OK!
Spock: Pizzalicious!