(Blog comments: After much trial, error, great ideas and technical chaos, comments should now work without a Facebook login. It’ll mean I spend lots of time deleting spam, and I will try not to let anything through, so please bear with me while we test this out. Thank you for your patience on this!)
The girls got an early start on their school work today! Tuesdays are math days, so Téa was doing numbers in the ten thousands, and Maylin 1-50.
Due to their early start, they were done today’s work load early, and got some play time in before lunch. We had a simple lunch finishing off some leftovers from the fridge, and decided to go discover Umeda Sky in downtown Osaka. On our way to the subway, Téa suddenly remembered that her lanyard and transit pass was at home, so her and I turned around to go grab it, while Joe and Maylin continued on to Umeda.
Just as Téa and I emerged from our AirBnb for the second time, raindrops started falling. Luckily, there’s a large umbrella right inside the door, and we grab that one. We only needed it about half way to the subway, but it was good to have, as it could have rained more.
The walk to the subway is about 20 minutes, so by the time we made it all the way there, we were about 30 minutes behind Joe and Maylin. They messaged us from a cake café, showing us what we were missing out on. How rude! Then of course, I made us get off the first subway one stop too early, so then we had to wait for the next subway, then get off at the right stop to transfer to the second subway… Yes, Joe and Maylin had plenty of time to enjoy on their own.
Once we were finally all reunited, we set off for Umeda Sky. This building is impressive! A giant “bridge” between two high rises, with a giant hole in the middle of the building! So we enter and follow the throng of people, until we’re at the back of an enormous line. The staff say the wait is only about 15 minutes from where we stand, so we stick with it. Then they tell us the tickets are ¥2000 (approx CA$20) per adult and ¥500 (CA$5) per child, but Joe has a plan. He’s very good at having plans.
At the front of the mega line up, they push 16-18 people into the elevator each time, and there’s only two elevators. The elevator goes up to the 35th floor, where we take an escalator the rest of the way up to the ticket and souvenir floor, the 39th. All of this costs nothing, and we can take some pictures of the view from this floor. It’s only if you want to exit the building (!!!) on the 40th floor that you need to pay for the priviledge. We decline, enjoy our 39th floor visit, and return to safer ground.
Back down to Earth, we are hungry and set off to find a snack. We stop at the only place we can find with a table for 4 people, and order some potato wedges, and a “red bean and butter sandwich”. The slab of butter is about the same thickness as the slice of toast! This little snack, between the four of us, gives us enough batteries to go explore some shops.
I am in dire need of some tops, preferably a pair of shorts, and Téa needs some too. Joe and Maylin go browse the claw machine department, while Téa and I go shopping. We found her a skort, a pair of shorts and a sweater. I then leave her with the others, and spend 30 minutes of mom time alone in a clothing store!!! I’m so excited! It’s so peaceful!!! No tugging at my elbow, no one is whining, it’s GLORIOUS! I manage to buy one simple t-shirt and 2 pairs of underwear. It’s better than nothing!
Shopping done, we are ready for dinner. We head to the 8th floor, where it’s all restaurants, and allow the girls to let their craving for pizza win tonight. The Umeda area has lots of Italian restaurants, and we find one with the thinnest crust pizza. The girls share a tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza, while Joe and I ended up with a pizza chemically free from cheese, somehow. It had tomato, oregano and garlic, to which we added octopus. When did you last have octopus on your pizza? I promise, it was delicious!
We weren’t really all that full after dinner, and didn’t really want to go straight home either, but Téa and I wanted to test out the cake place Joe and Maylin had enjoyed, so off we go. We order a slice of sweet potato cake and a slice of banana caramel cake. They were both tasty, but maybe first and foremost for the eye, and not quite as delicious for the mouth.
Once we were fully satisfied for the day, we headed for the two subways and a 20 minute walk home. We ended up choosing a different exit out of the subway station by mistake, and got to see a few new streets on our way home. Variety is the spice of life!
Tomorrow is a new school day, and who knows what will follow in the afternoon. But Thursday! Thursday we go to Expo, so that will be a full, long, and hopefully fun, day.