Saturday 11April Goodbye Osaka

Sunshine this morning so no need for umbrellas. Hope so, because mine is now packed as we leave the hotel this morning. At breakfast, the lovely dining room manager, came and spoke to us as she has done every morning. She was such a lovely, friendly person definitely suited to her position. She gave us each a handmade little card telling us how much she enjoyed meeting us. Aki is the hotel's best advertisement. Back in our room,a last tidy up as we head downstairs to get on the coach for a morning of sight seeing before we board the ship, Heritage Adventurer which will be our home for the next 9 days Unfortunately Yoko had let us down in that she had not confirmed that our suitcases will be collected from outside our rooms, so we all board the bus for our 9am departure but no suitcases have been collected. 45 minutes later we are finally away and head to Osaka castle, but not before J1 has an 'oh no' moment reminiscent of J2's experience on the plane. Thankfully the only thing J1 dropped down the side of her seat by the window was a pen which was easily retrieved, no tongs required!

It is very impressive but again, crowded so climbing the 7 flights of stairs to the top was arduous to say the least. Great views however so maybe worth the effort.

We had passed a vendor selling the cheese pancake things that Jess suggested do I attempt to go and buy some but Yoko tells me they're isn't time and I can get some at our next stop. She lied! Our next stop is Expo park which was very underwhelming. The main attraction is the Sun tower.

There is a curry festival if we want to try that but instead I buy a coffee and make do with cheese and crackers plus a muesli bar I had brought with me. I don't think any of our group were impressed with this stop as there wasn't enough time to check out the Japanese garden or the tulip beds in the distance. So back on the coach and now we make our way to the Umeda Sky Building which is 40 floors tall. More great views from the top, but we had an hour there which was 45 minutes too long.

Back on the coach again and now we head to the Port. Our little ship is waiting for us and we are able to board straight away a bit after 4pm. We hand over our passports and are shown to our cabin 407. It is really well appointed and spacious with lots of cupboard space. I'm impressed.

We unpack and then head to the compulsory life boat drill. About 140 passengers and once again I reckon we have lowered the median age a good 15 years. J1 reckons she had spotted Dick Smith amongst our life boat gang and I reckon she is right. Once life boat drill is over we head for the lounge and are pleasantly surprised that the drinks are not over priced, albeit that they are in US dollars. You only get one guess as to which is mine.

It's now time for briefings from the crew and at one point we are introduced to one of the 3 for guided who will escort us on different port day tours. I have to ask J1 if he is speaking in English as his Japanese accent is so strong I can't understand most of what he is saying. Have no idea how those with hearing problems would have managed. Hopefully we get one of the other 2 younger women who can speak English clearly. Now it's time for dinner so we head to deck 4 and seat ourselves at a table for 4 by a window. Soon enough a couple join us and we find out that Colleen and Joe are from Virginia, previously New York. In less than a minute they apologise for Trump! Our ship leaves Port about 8pm and it is smooth waters. We have a lovely meal with good company and eventually call it a night.