I feel like we’ve tried everything by now, and I still wake up with fresh bug bites on my legs and feet every single day. This morning the victims are top of my left foot, and pinky toe joint on my right foot. Oh boy does it hurt to wear shoes! But shoes are necessary when out adventuring in Japan, so on they go, and off we went!
We were aiming for Osaka Castle today, and tried new routes to get there. A new bus to a new subway stop, and when we emerged from our ride, we were met with this sight:
I love quirky architecture! Also love art installations that allow adults and kids alike to have a little fun. I present to you, two very temporary statues:
Also in the same area, there was an ancient wooden building, complete with fascinating straw roof:
And of course – an ice cream vending machine! Joe says the three on the left, top down, are very tasty, a thin slice of chocolate enveloped in vanilla ice cream, and all sealed inside a wafer making the whole thing look like a waffle!
The walk from the subway to Osaka Castle is about 15 minutes, and this is the first thing that meets us on castle grounds:
There’s an old, dried up moat inside these thick walls, and I found a plaque to explain why:
The walk up to the castle itself was packed with tourists from all around Japan and the world, and just seeing the crowds made me a bit weary of what we would find at the top. Luckily, many upgrades have been made since my mom and I were here in 2007, but I think also the crowds have increased exponentially as well. One of the upgrades – an exciting new ice cream vending machine! (I don’t remember a single one of these from last time, but also think I wasn’t looking for them. I DO know that the washrooms have been upgraded though, as last time around at least 50% of washrooms, even inside malls, were holes in the ground, and now I’ve only seen them twice in the 6 weeks we’ve been here.)
The castle itself is an impressive sight to see, and I really wanted us to go inside. What I did NOT want was to stand outside in this heat, along with thousands of other visitors, waiting in a line at least an hour long. We are definitely spoiled in the fact that we can come back at any time in our remaining 7 weeks, and pick a weekday, a cooler day, a day with hopefully less visitors, and plan an earlier start.
We checked out the partially air conditioned shops and exhibitions inside a large structure on the castle grounds, and found the below on display:
We decided we did not have to continue fighting the crowds and the heat, and went to lunch instead. Joe had looked up a good ramen place nearby, so we headed there. Ramen is one of his absolute favourites, but it’s also a meal that the girls love sharing one bowl or get some out of our bowls, and these places do not have kids sets. Safe bet all round!
There was an eel restaurant right next door, and even though we didn’t eat there, we had fun with their display:
We decided to browse some of the stores at the open air mall next door. There was a large open space in the middle, with what sounded like a boyband warming up, and ended up being a sort of half comedy, half concert type of performance. The crowd was laughing and cheering, but of course, with it all being in Japanese, we didn’t stay nor try to understand.
One of the stores had very innovative tissue boxes, I love how the tissues serve a decorative purpose! Notice the rabbit pulling tissues out of his hat at the far left?
There was a large sports store in this mall as well, and while not quite the Bass Pro experience, Maylin wanted her picture taken with the moose.
And Téa, celebrating finding a new pair of shorts, celebrated with the bear.
On our way home from the castle and surroundings, we found a bus that took us all the way to the grocery store by our house. A quick shopping trip for dinner and breakfast necessities, and we were back at the Airbnb. I snuck upstairs for a nap, while the girls played their new Mario Kart game on the Switch and Joe cooked a delicous salmon dinner.
After dinner I suggested the girls and I go pick up ice creams at 7Eleven and we would watch a movie together as a family. I found a sweet potato ice cream that was shaped and wrapped in wafer to actually look like a sweet potato! Absoutely delicious, even though wafers are not my favourite, sweet potato certainly is!
