Sunday

Sunday morning arrived and we slept in because why not, plus we were tired after our jam packed Saturday. One of the things I wanted to do while in Osaka was to try "okonomiyaki," which is a dish that originated in Osaka and Hiroshima. It is a pancake like dish that has meat or chicken or shrimp with veggies and almost a crepe like batter holding it together. It's soooo GOOD. We have had the Hiroshima version while there, so it was only fitting that we eat it in Osaka. I found a place that was suppose to be really good and one of the best places to eat at. Luckily it was in the basement of the area we were going to see that morning, so it worked out great. We arrived 15 minutes after it opened and had to wait in line already. We waited for about 40 minutes before we were able to go inside and sit and wait some more which is horrible because we could smell the food. The owner and chef came to take our order and asked us where we were from. We said Texas and he said he would make us something special. We did not complain and were quite satisfied. He made us an okonomiyaki that was delish and then brought us some yakisoba as well. Both dishes were AMAZING and we were so glad we waited. After we were done, he came over to chat a bit with us and gave me a souvenir, the small spatula that is used to cut the pancake. Mike, of course, shook his head at me, but I was happy. yay for me.

Next we walked up stairs to the Umeda Sky Building, which is a 2-twin tower building connencted by a walk-way, which has amazing views. Its 173 meters tall and one of the tallest buildings in Osaka, but not the tallest! I was bummed we weren't able to make it here at night because I am sure it would have been spectacular. Oh well. Here are some more views of Osaka from this area.





After walking around the rooftop observatory, we went to the dining/cafe area and found this great love seats, at least that is what they were called. Mike enjoyed the seat and I think he felt like the love king! ahaaha


We headed back to the hotel and made our way back to the station to catch our bullet train. Our mini-vaca was over, but we had a good time. One city down, many more to see!

Crab, it's what's for dinner!

Our next move was... trying to find this martini bar that I had previously found when I was looking for places to go. Well, I didn't write down the address or exit to take out of the train station, but the amount of time it took from the train station to arrive at the place. Mike was really good and didn't complain as we searched for this martini bar. After about 30 minutes, we gave up, found a bar and had happy hour because we needed to rest for a bit. (I looked it up when we got back and it turns out we took the wrong exit and it doesn't open until 7:30pm..we were searching around 5)

After happy hour it was time to have dinner and we settled on this crab place from our book. So we walked down the street and found the huge arcade area in Osaka. Here is the night view over looking the river


1 block over was the arcade area, which we had to venture down to find our dining spot. This was crazy loud and bright, which means naturally, I was excited to be there. As we strolled down the street, we walked past some interesting stores and took some pictures so you could see for yourself!!




Continuing on, Mike found a store that had Billiken stuff and had to take a picture. Apparently his high school mascot was a billiken, but no one ever knew where it came from..hmmm

Finally, we came to the restaurant and knew it was the right one, as if the giant crab didn't give it away. It was time for dinner.


First, we saw them pick out the crabs we were going to have! Then we went upstairs to sit down.


We both decided on a course menu that included a variety of crab dishes including the crab sashimi, grilled snow crab leg (YUMMY), rice pot with steamed crab, regular crab legs, etc. Mike enjoying the first dish

Not liking the gooey, slimy looking sashimi, but I ate it

A great picture of us enjoying some of the dishes. I was about to dig into the giant snow crab leg, which Mike had already finished...he just never savors it!

Here we are just being dorks



Anywho, we had an amazing dinner and were quite full after all the crab. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed this long line for Krispy Kreme donuts. It was if they have never had donuts before to wait in a line that long.

Osaka Castle

The Osaka castle was a 20 minute train ride away, but we were happy to sit inside an air conditioned car for a bit. We arrived at the castle grounds and it was huge. This castle has a moat around the entire area and then another grass only moat around the actual castle.

The entrance into the castle grounds.


The castle...took us a while to get to it.


The castle was amazing; however, access to the top was not so fun. They had an elevator, which only took you to the 5th floor and then you climbed the next 3 flights to arrive at the top. Mike and I must have missed the sign, seeing as how we climbed all 8 flights of stairs after being the in the sun all day. Oh well, it was worth it. The views of the city were pretty. Now I don't remember what direction we started at, but we looked out in all directions





After the viewing from the top, we descended the stairs and each floor had a different aspect detailing the history of the castle and families who ruled/lived/fought for it. It was really interesting. At this point, we needed a break, so we bought some ice cream and sat down to enjoy it before deciding our next move.

Ferris Wheel & Smallest Mountain

It was time for lunch and went into the Osaka food area of the mall next to the aquarium. We walked around, but I didn't know what I wanted and Mike didn't care. I finally settled on yakisoba. It was really good and just what we needed to continue on the day. I also made a friend!


Next was the ferris wheel. I know, why ride the ferris wheel, but we got some good pictures of the city. I actually expected the ferris wheel ride to go a bit slower, but the ride was over in about 10 minutes. Here are some pictures from different angles and of course one of us!




Next we walked over to the smallest mountain in Japan. Considering Mike has climbed Fuji, it only made sense for him to trek up the smallest mountain. This time it only took like a minute unlike his other trek. This mountain was a joke, literally, but he was still proud of climbing it, or should I say walking up a few feet.



Afterwards we decided to go to the Osaka castle instead of doing that on Sunday morning. Off we went to the castle in the heat.

Osaka Aquarium pictures

Osaka Aquarium

We began Saturday morning at the Osaka Aquarium. Our guide book said we should start there early to avoid lines especially on the weekends and during holidays. We arrived about 9:45, only 15 minutes after it opened and it was already full of people and lots of kids running around causing a ruckis. This aquarium was really cool especially since they built the whole thing around this giant tank that houses 2 whale sharks. You walk in and then their are escalators taking you to the 8th floor automatically. Then we proceeded to make our way down and see all the marine life. Since I took alot of pictures, I am only going to post a few here and then you all can click on the link to see the rest. We started off with seeing some sea otters, the walrus, and the seal, who was doing tricks. Next we came upon this very large squrriel looking thing. I can't remember the accurate name, but here are some pictures. I would love to see Bailey run after this giant squrriel looking thing! Next came the dolphins, which I could never get a picture where they were jumping in the air. However, Mike and I both liked this picture and think it would be great if we could see this happen We finally came upon the huge tank and right at on time for feeding. Those whale sharks were large, not to mention the manta rays in there. There were all kinds of fish in this giant tank.

These were 2 of the ugliest fish I have ever seen. Continuing on our way, I ran into this turtle.

Now this fish was in the tank as the turtle, but I just had to take a video. It's like its humping the rock. Too funny.


We ended the wrap around with giant crabs and then jelly fish. The crabs were cool.

We were finally done with the aquarium and it was time for lunch and then on to the next adventure.

Osaka, here we come

Mike and I decided to spend the weekend away and visit Osaka. You may be asking, why Osaka, what is there? All questions we asked ourselves, but we figured we needed to see more of Japan and this was quick weekend trip. We left Friday night after Mike got out of work and took the bullet train to Osaka. The bullet train requires tickets and we opted to buy them at the station right before we left since we didn't think anyone was going to be going to Osaka.

Apparently we were wrong. The only reserved seats available were not until 8:30pm. Mike bought the tickets for unreserved seats and we would take the train that had some seats available. Turns out, we got on the 6:47pm train, at the 2nd stop along the route, and there were no seats. We were 2nd and 3rd in line, but nothing. Needless to say my face expressed all my emotions. We ended up standing in the middle of the aisle for about 1.5 hours. The 4th stop, at Nagoya, is where people got off and Mike and I were able to seat down for the last hour of our trip. We made if safely to Osaka and the first thing we did was buy tickets for our return, with reserved seats. It is not fun standing for that long and I was in flat sandals, so I can only imagine how the women in heels must feel.

We made it to our hotel and it was about 10pm, so we just headed to the bar to grab some drinks and snacks since we hadn't had dinner. We ordered some drinks and a few appetizers, which were really good. We both liked the roasted spare ribs and the mixture of potato wedges, asparagus, and sausage links with rosemary. Delish.
We called it an early night especially since Saturday was going to be jam packed.
Saturday morning and here is the few from our room. Now follows our jam packed day with activities.

Shark video

It's amazing what you can find on your camera when you actually look at what's on there. I was deleting pictures and videos and found this one. I totally forgot about it. This is from our all day Eco tour during the honeymoon. We weren't allowed in the water yet, but could definitely see the sharks. FYI, I do not admit to having good recording skills, so forgive me if it moves around alot. ENJOY.

Friday - Asakusa & Swallows game

Mike took Friday off so he could spend the day with all us since Kara and Chris will be leaving tomorrow. We spent the morning/afternoon in Asakusa, old town Japan or the area that resembles what Japan use to look like. This area also has a major shrine and a nice long shopping area!

This guys makes sure you buy something before you leave!


This shrine is being renovated, so here is what the renovations look like.

The sacred washing of the hands before entering. I kind of like the dragons, not gonna lie.


This area also had a pagoda and another outdoor shrine. Can you see the scary lions guarding the shrine. They kind of remind of the creatures from Ghostbusters (the first one), close to the end where they are protecting the gate keeper before the state puff marshmallow man comes.




In the evening, we had planned to go to the Tokyo Yukalt Swallows game because any baseball game here is an experience. We hyped up the event to Kara and Chris explaining how each batter has their own chant and the fans never stop cheering. It would have been so much fun. Mike checked the weather before we left and the percentage of rain had increased to 100%, but we figured that wouldn't happen and took umbrellas, just to be on the safe side. Turns out the weather man was actually right this time and about 5 minutes before the game was suppose to start, they announced, in Japanese, the game was cancelled. We had bought panchos to keep dry and even sat in our seats, in the rain, waiting for the game. We couldn't help but laugh at this point. But we did manage to take a picture. This is one that is definitely going on the shelf.