straight across the road for breakfast, luckily we have a big lawson store so close.
I grabbed a hot coffee in a can while sarah opted for a grape fruit drink in a carton,
then the food, well so much in these stores its kinda hard to know what to get, so we just went for it. Sarah grabbed a hot dog looking thing while i went for a round bun.
sat down for five and my god the coffee in a can is amazing, sarahs drink nice too.
The food was great, the hotdog turned out to be a kind of salami roll thing which was nice, the bun ended up having curry and vegetables in it and was sooo good!!
After our breakfast we headed straight down the nearest subway entry,
we were a little lost at first in the underground world but ended up finding our way to Nanba station where we caught the next train out to the Bay.
about 1/2 hour later we arrived at our stop and after a short walk arrived at the Osaka Aquarium. Ive seen a lot of pictures of the place but geez its so big when you see it in person.
We got inside as quick as we could as there were a few schools building up in the carpark.
Upon entry we found out that 24 schools were set to visit the aquarium that morning haha.
we spent the next couple of hours wandering our way through the aquarium and were amazed at the variety and size of the sea creatures on show. This is by far the best aquarium ive visited and that includes the big one in Sydney Harbour. The star of the show was Kaiyukan the whale shark! its amazing they have built a tank big enough to house it along with plenty of other sharks, rays and huge fish.
After our time in the aquarium we moved on to the Tempozan Giant Ferris wheel.
We were lucky as the clear carriage came around just as we jumped in line.
This thing is absolutely huge and gives you a great view of the Bay and Osaka City.
I think it took around 15mins to get right around.
We then left the Bay area and headed for the Osaka Castle.
We were lucky to find the castle train upon arrival so we jumped at the chance of a ride to the castle entrance. As soon as we got inside we grabbed a bite to eat in a little restaurant. I opted for the tempura shrimp don (rice bowl topped with tempura prawns), whilst Sarah went for the Katsu don (fried pork cutlet on rice with egg) This went down a treat with a cold pot of tea.
The castle was a real highlight in Osaka as it not only gave us a picture of what Japanese Castles were like from outside but the whole interior has been rebuilt into a museum which goes through the whole story on how Osaka came about and the battles that were fought around this great historical Building. The top floor has an amazing viewing deck which shows how big the castle grounds are and shows the whole city. I was amazed at how tall the moat walls are, they have to be 50m down.
After the Castle we headed back to the hotel to get changed as we were so overdressed for the Japanese Heat!! I dont know why we packed so many jumpers and pants as it felt like 30 degrees. When we got back to the hotel we were told about a Snapper Sashimi demo that was about to start. I used the next 10mins to arrange a luggage forwarding service for our big suitcases. Around $50 and our bags were sent off to our next hotel (another great japanese idea)
We hung around and learnt the finer points on how a red sea bream (snapper) is prepared on a traditional wooden boat. This was an amazing experience and gave us a great insight into Japanese Culture. The Chefs and hotel staff were so friendly towards us and explained everything down to a tea. well after watching this amazing demo we were lucky enough to eat the culinary masterpiece. Not only was there Red Sea Bream but also squid, tuna, daikon, seaweed and cucumber. At the end i was pretty full but decided we would head off to the neon area for more haha!!
We wandered around for a while got a few pics and checked out the amazing food on offer.
We decided to try another one of Osaka's specialties "Okonomiyaki"
Well, what an experience, one of the best looking restaurants and to have the food served on hot plate in our table completed the scene. We ordered a typical okonomiyaki and a serve of gyoza and boy did it go down a treat. At this stage was probably the best meal we have had in Japan.
Umeda was calling so we finished off the meal and jumped back on the subway,
soon after we had reached the other main hub in Osaka (Umeda) it took a little while to find the Hep 5 building but we got there in the end. Another Ferris Wheel and another view of this great city! We finished off looking around Umeda before heading back for a well earned sleep.
Tomorrow we leave for Kusatsu Via Nara
No comments:
Post a Comment