Osaka Trip Part 1

My trip to Osaka was a blast.  I had soooo much fun.  I'm not going to post all of my pictures in my blog, but all of them are on facebook, so you can look through them all on there.  I'm sorry this is so long in coming.  It's been really difficult lately to make myself sit down and write.  There is so much I'd rather do, especially sleep.  I spent 3 days running around from 10am until well after midnight and it seems to have taken a bit of a toll.  Especially on my right foot.  It's been sore for a few weeks, and now it's just ridiculously painful to walk on.  Oh, and I think I'm getting a cold.  That or I have the WORST case of hayfever ever.  I don't know what started blooming in Nagoya while I was away, but my sinuses do not like it one bit.  Anywho, enough complaining and enough excuses.  Here is my Golden Week Adventure (part 1).

Tuesday morning, Steve and I woke up ridiculously early and made our way to Nagoya Station to catch our bus to Osaka.  We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out where exactly we had to catch the bus, but we managed and got to the bus pick up area with enough time to buy some snacks and talk to a little old Japanese woman about where we were going for Golden Week.  She was really sweet.  At 9:15, we got on the bus.  Steve and I couldn't get seats next to each other, but we were across the aisle from one another, so it wasn't too bad.  I sat next to a very quiet Japanese woman who slept the entire way.  Steve, unfortunately, was stuck sitting next to a man who laughed and talked to himself the ENTIRE trip.  And no, he did not have a bluetooth or any sort of device that we saw to prove he was talking to someone other than himself.

Steve napping next to crazy guy.

Unfortunately for us, we got stuck in ridiculous traffic and were on the bus for 5 hours before we finally reached Osaka.  When we got there, we wandered around the Osaka train station until we found the train to our hotel.  Lucky for us, our hotel was on a main line, was only a few stations away from Osaka Station, and only a block away from the Higashimikuni Station.   Checking into the station was extraordinarily easy.  I was very surprised because I had read reviews concerning our hotel and the difficulty foreigners seem to have checking in.  All we did was hand them our voucher (which we got when we booked online and simply had to print out), our passports, and sign a release form.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.   The concierage handed us our key, and it indicated our room was on the 13th floor.  *Gulp*  Slightly superstitious and worried, we got into the elevator to notice that there was no 4th floor listed.  Apparently they don't list the 4th floor in Japan, like we don't list the 13th.  So, in reality our room was on the 12th floor. Yay!  Here are some pics:

This is the view from our hotel. 

Steve on our "semi-double" bed.  Notice the control panel.  It controls the tv, radio, alarm clock, and all the lights in the room and bathroom.

This is Samurai Sanders.  He lived across the street from our hotel.

Oh, and there was a white Statue of Liberty advertising a Pachinko (gambling) place that was visible from the train station.

After we settled in, we contacted Natalia, Nausicaa, Iona and Lauren to meet up and go to the Umeda Sky Building.  This building has a "bridge" suspended 40 stories high between the two halves of the building.  One can go up top, much like one can with the space needle in Seattle, to get a very nice panoramic view of the city.

Umeda Sky Building

So high!  Made me nervous going up to the top.  And made my ears pop.

Osaka!

Sucks that it was raining, but at least we got to go..

This is the "Lover's Lounge" It's only open after dark, and you can purchase a lock that has your names engraved on it and your anniversary.  The lock has no key, so when you secure it to the strings on the fence, surrounding the lounge, it can't be removed.

Aww!

Why is there breast shaped pudding?

 After we came down from the building, Steve and I discovered a beautiful garden and decided to take a stroll before dinner.

Yes, I tripped going up them.

These fish are sooo COOL!

The smelly tunnel that goes under the street so one can reach the Sky Building.

After our stroll, we once again braved the GIANT Osaka Station, and made our way to Nanba Station.  At Nanba, there is the famous Dontombori Avenue (which is what my next blog will be about).  We decided to splurge and get some crab for dinner at a really fancy restaurant.  It was AMAZING.

I wanted to keep the cute chopstick rester thing.

Can you tell we were exhausted?

Our utensils!

The windows were engraved with crabs and over-looked the river.

The main dish!

Steve's main dish!

I love these little soup bowls and lids.

Yummy crab & egg soup.

Crab Au Gratin

Clear soup with seaweed and a crab flavored white spongy thing.

Crab Sushi

Pretty dishes.

Authentic green tea.  Very yummy.

Desert!

After dinner, we stayed out exploring for a few more hours before making our way home and passing out for the night.  The next blog will be about our explorations along Dontombori Avenue.  Hope you all enjoyed.  Be sure to comment.

<3 Love & Miss you! <3