We went to a sightseeing trip this day. We first visited a beach named Pass-a-Grill. As the sand there was made of crushed shell and coral, it was very white. Like the State of Florida is called 'Sunshine State,' the sun was so shiny that we needed sun glasses. Many people were taking a walk, and some people were even in a swimming wear even it was October 21 !
I put my sun glasses on the beach. There were many many small, white shells all over the beach.
I took a picture with our guide. She helped me a lot calling the bus company many times when I lost my digital camera. Due to her, it came back to me.
Our bus stopped in a parking lot in Treasure Island. I heard that pirates lived around there many years ago. 'BUCCANEER' is also the name for a profesional baseball team in St.Petersburg.
I had lunch with Mr.K at McDonald's. The menu there was very similar to the ones in Japan, and the taste was almost the same. Also, tipping is not nesessary there. So we two Japanese people were able to relax so much. Drink made us surprised because each size was far bigger than the ones in Japan. The size 'Small' is enough for Japanese people.
These are pictures of a gas station. In Japan, when you drive into a gas station, it is usual that some stuff run out of their office saying 'Welcome !' and wipe car windows, ask if there are any butts or trash, while they fill your car with gas. But the ordinary price in my city is around 100-110 yen a liter, which is about $4.36-4.80 a gallon. Gas is incredibly expensive in Japan, partly because the tax (not sales tax) is very expensive, and partly because Japan does not produce oil. That might be because smaller cars sell well in Japan.
Even I'm not interested in plant, I noticed this flower grows only in the southern part of Japan. There were some facilities for beach volleyball.
This is a baseball field with roof called 'Tropicana Field' in St.Petersburg.
We visited some homes in the afternoon. As four families welcomed us, 20+ members were divided into four groups. This is a picture of a house which an elementary school teacher has, taken from inside the bus.
This is a house we visited. There was a stiff security system in the entrance. This is not very usual in Japan, maybe because holding guns is prohibited in Japan. A washroom, a child's bed room, a reading room and some other room were shown to us. To my surprise, there was a swimming pool in the backyard, although I knew many houses have a one. We heard that a swimming pool should be filled with much water in Florida, because the water pressure under the ground sometimes lifts up the swimming pool. This house was very huge and nice, but when I heard the price of the house, I felt like moving to Florida !
The husband of this house is from Iran, and he cooked nice cusine of Middle-East. We especially enjoyed the yellow rice ! Later, his wife and he who are both very kind took us to a spa resort, a small hill that was made by American Indians by car. When I asked a question that I had in Florida, 'Why do many cars are running with the lights turned on, even in the daytime ?,' he taught us that new cars are made to turn on the lights on automatically when you start your engine.
