Thursday 9 April Osaka
What is it with Japanese and toilets? The toilets in the airport lounge bathroom yesterday had heated seats and now in our hotel room it is the same but with a control panel. The toilet is self flushing as you close the lid but Im not game to touch any other buttons even though they are in English!
Was too tired last night for photos but definitely a great view from our hotel window. Daylight view is impressive too. We have the day to ourselves so will need to get our bearings and work out where we are confident to get to.
Buffet breakfast was good but will need to take my Vegemite tomorrow morning. After breakfast we asked revelries staff where they suggested we go that is within walking distance. Across the bridge next to the hotel is a cherry blossom festival and we are in luck as the trees are still in flower so we head over the bridge and under the railway line to wander along the river bank. It was a lovely walk that went on and on.
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Heaps of food stalls too but nothing was in English so I had no idea what any of it was. There are no flies but also no refrigeration so we were not going to chance anything that was simply sitting out on display waiting to be cooked or dried!
We kept walking past the main cherry blossom trees and found even more pretty parks and buildings. We then walked back to our hotel along the opposite riverbank. wasn't wearing my pedometer so not sure how many steps but reckon 10,000 is a fair estimate.
As we headed back over the bridge to the hotel, lovely view of Osaka castle which we will visit in a couple of days. Weather is very mild and plenty of cloud cover so a lovely day for walking and exploring but time now for a sit down and cuppa.
J1 is suffering from acute aerosinusitis (Dr Robinson diagnosis after conferring with Dr Google) so we get on a taxi and head for a main shopping precinct to locate a pharmacy. Dr Robinson has prescribed Sudafed with pseudoephedrine. The main road has shop after shop of the high end brands. There is even a queue outside the Rolex store! We head for the more densely populated shopping area behind the main drag and find a pharmacy where little English is spoken by the staff and all packaging is in Japanese. However Sudafed and pseudoephedrine must be understood internationally as we are given a packet of something that requires J1 to sign for and the purchase is completed. I even think I understood correctly when the fellow said 2 tablets 3 times a day but J1 thinks it is 2 tablets a day for 3 days. (Google translate later confirms my understanding!)
So many people and so many shops.
Ginza in Japanese means silver mint so no idea why there is a Ginza Karen store, but it is nice to know that I get a mention anyway! We find a busy little shop that we each buy a panini for our lunch and eat it in the upstairs seating area. Time to wander again and J1 find just the right store for her grand daughter.
Not lots of tourists but you can pick them out amongst the black haired locals. So many young ones out shopping that I wonder if they work or living off parents? It's now after 4pm so we find a taxi rank and get back to our hotel for another cuppa and rest before we head downstairs at 6.15 to meet our travel group and tour guide, Yoko. No, not that Yoko.
18We had been sent name nagged before we left Oz so I have to include in the blog that J1 was having trouble wishing it how to attack the magnet backing to the front name badge through her clothing. She wasn't happy, claiming that it was a very poor magnet. Probably didn't help that she was trying to get the back of the magnet (not magnetic) to attach to the name plate! Her words upon discovering her error was, I suppose this is going to end up in the blog! I'm not one to disappoint my friends...
19On sering the rest of our group, I estimate that we have dropped the median age a good 15 years but I'm not sure if this is actual years or they are just'old' in manner and image! There are about 2 dozen of us and J1 is already sizing up who she is likely to vote off the island. Im reserving judgement but there is one woman I have my eye on. It is a short walk to the restaurant where we have a 5 course Japanese style dinner. Courses are very small and lots of fish until we get to the wagyu beef which was excellent.
Wine was included but we had to almost beg for refills until we finally got a fellow who gave a decent pour! Vicki (her older sister is a Karen) and Brian from Rockhampton, plus Rosemary (boring as bat s**t) and Brian 2 from Sydney made up our table. Vicki loves talking about herself and her white BMW that is the only one of its kind in Australia and she bought it in Adelaide! I've warned the Sydney Brian that we vote people off the island and he only gets one warning so he's already on notice!
With dinner over we are told that we all have to leave at the same time but it is now lightly raining so J1 and I take off at a cracking pace (cos I don't want my hair to get wet or it will go curly) and make our back to the hotel first, without getting too wet. Back in our room it is time to rest up, get in our jammies and work out what time we need to get up in the morning for an 8am departure for a long day tomorrow of shrines and temples plus we are forewarned that it will be raining for most of the day. Bugga!
However we do have a lovely view from our hotel so with that in mind it is lights out and the end of a very successful first full day in Osaka.
Was too tired last night for photos but definitely a great view from our hotel window. Daylight view is impressive too. We have the day to ourselves so will need to get our bearings and work out where we are confident to get to.
Buffet breakfast was good but will need to take my Vegemite tomorrow morning. After breakfast we asked revelries staff where they suggested we go that is within walking distance. Across the bridge next to the hotel is a cherry blossom festival and we are in luck as the trees are still in flower so we head over the bridge and under the railway line to wander along the river bank. It was a lovely walk that went on and on.
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