JAPAN 2018 - PART 8

Day 13 - Tuesday 10th April, 2018

We purchased and Osaka Amazing Pass which cost JY3,300 to use 2 days consecutively.  If you visit Osaka this is a must, you get unlimited subway travel and admission to around 50 places in Osaka.  Obviously you won't get to see it all but try and fit in as much as you can.  We used it Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Our first stop on Tuesday was to Osaka Castle, we took the loop train to Osaka station and 2 subway trains to arrive at the station closest to Osaka Castle, mind you we still had to walk 20 minutes before reaching the Castle.  

This photo is taken from about 5 minutes walk from the station, we still have a long walk to the castle which is built on a hill so we had to walk up many steps as well, we were a little exhausted by the time we reached the outside of the castle.

There is a really lovely gardens area before going over the bridge over the moat with hundreds of trees, all the plum trees were in bloom and looked glorious.

                

                  

Osaka Castle was one of my favourites, it's so big and towers over the city with 5 levels, thankfully they have a lift for going up only, we waited in line for 30 minutes to catch the lift as its small and doesn't hold many people.  You can walk up but as we knew we'd be walking down we decided to conserve our energy and take the lift up.   

               The view from the top is great, you can see for miles and miles all around

                                   

It was a very hot day luckily I had my trusty umbrella for shade

 We wanted to go on this little boat around the moat which was also included in our Osaka amazing pass however the wait was 1-1/2 hours so we gave it a miss.

  

We went for a walk to find a train station to head back to Osaka station and came across a Wedding.

 

                                                                      A man painting

                                          We sat for 20 minutes under the shade of trees

                                          We set off again along this path that led us to

                                OsakaJokoen Station and caught a train back to Osaka station

                       We enjoyed a yummy chicken curry lunch in a café at Osaka station

                                           Next stop was to visit the Umeda Sky Building
                                        

The Umeda Sky Building is the nineteenth-tallest building in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing the wide atrium-like space in the centre. It is located in Umeda district of Kita-ku, Osaka.

                                                It was very windy on the viewing deck

                                            The escalators down are very long and steep

                                              This is a model in a glass case in the foyer

Day 14 - Wednesday 11th April,  2018

                                        We caught the train to the Tempozan Ferris wheel

                             It's very big and my first time to ride in one of these big wheels

We may have a smile on our face but don't be fooled, it was very windy and we were mildly terrified

 It was very windy up high and the carriage was moving and making lots of loud noises...……..

                         The Diamond Princess cruise ship was in port, it's a very big ship

                           We were so high up, we towered high above the Diamond Princess

                                              A couple of photos of the view we had

The Tempozan Marketplace was next to the wheel so we went in for a shop and then had lunch at the eatery, the place was packed with people from the cruise ship and took us awhile to get a seat.

                  I had fried rice and Gyoza, this was one of my favourite meals on my travels

                    We then walked back to the train station, look at these gorgeous pansies

We caught the train to Dotonbori, I bought some gorgeous fabric from one of the shops

I had read about the famous Rikuro's Japanese cheesecakes and all of a sudden we came across a shop, I said to Sandra I have to buy one so I stood in line and while I was waiting to be served a bell was ringing and all of a sudden people flocked to the shop.  They ring the bell when a fresh batch of cheesecakes come out of the oven and we were luck enough to be there at that moment......

Back in our hotel room after dinner we enjoyed some of  Rikuro's famous cheesecake. They are so delicious, if you ever get a chance to try some you'll love it.

If you're a whiskey lover as I am you'll enjoy my next post.

                                                                   Cheers
                                                                   Kaylee