osaka

like kyoto, we had only read up on a few things to do in osaka, and we left the day open for whatever we may hear about. we took an evening train from kyoto and got into our rooms. we actually had separate rooms this time because, for whatever reason, it was cheaper in this hotel to book single rooms than a room with two beds.

we drifted around small convenience stores and picked up salads and snacks to bring back to the room instead of finding a restaurant at night.

camille had read up on the aquarium, and although it was a bit pricey- there was nothing but raves for it, so we added that to our list. an interesting building with plants growing all over it . . . . the osaka castle. . . and a harbor area all sounded nice. we also discovered that there is some really great clothes shopping around. with the heat we found that some of the in season clothes were much lighter than what we packed. so clothes shopping also made the list. there were two main things that would be great at night, a building with a great observatory open late and the ‘largest’ ferris wheel was also opened late. like everything else, they were located in one of two major areas we wanted to be in, which were on opposite ends of the city. the ferris wheel ended up winning out.

the day was super hot. though it had been super muggy in kyoto- the rain had actually dropped the temperature a bit, and the clouds kept the sun off us. osaka was burning hot so getting inside the aquarium, getting inside for shopping, getting inside the castle, just getting inside was the main focus again. i took to shadow hopping between souvenir stands and trees at the castle. the walks from subway stations to areas of interest were brutal, especially mid day when the buildings had no shadows.

the harbor area had cute shopping and restaurants which we hit up around lunch time (i tried some indian fast food, curry chicken wrap or something like it.) when we decided to come back in the evening for the ferris wheel we thought we’d pick up some souvenirs and have dinner as well. sadly, the whole area closed down around 8. the ferris wheel stayed open till 9:30. we were off the ferris wheel sometime between 8 and 9 and ran into some other tourists who were also baffled by the fact that they couldn’t find a restaurant that was still open.

we ended up down the street a bit from the harbor area. almost went for korean bbq, but we found one place that had a picture menu that wasn’t all fried foods.

the next day we had an afternoon flight back to korea. we checked out and went directly to the airport where we did a handful of last minute souvenir shopping (blissfully i found a perfume that i wanted in kyoto, but didn’t have the cash on me at the time.) we had a last japanese meal. . . i had unagi. . . . mmm eel. (i don’t understand how such an ugly animal can be so delicious.) we both contemplated bringing back japanese liquor, but neither of us were really into it, or wanted to add liquid weight to what we were already carrying.

it was almost a bummer that our flight was so short. the in flight entertainment had iron man 2 and we both wanted to watch. . . but the flight time minus take off, landing, and cockpit announcements. . . we barely got halfway through the movie.

our last airport- gimpo. we left from incheon. i’d never been in gimpo. it’s within 5 miles from incheon and i thought it handled more of the domestic flights. it is much smaller for sure. but it’s still pretty new, clean, and easy to get through. plus, even though it’s only a stop or two closer to ansan, the bus ticket was somehow half the price of the one from incheon.

one bus ride to ansan, one taxi ride from the bus terminal. . . and i got home by 7ish on saturday. i started my laundry, did a little unpacking, then plopped down to watch tv and zone out for the next day.