We started the day off right with some Boss Coffee. This was really good cold black coffee from the vending machines.
Our main goal for the day was to visit Osaka Castle. It was about a 30 minute walk from our Airbnb.
The grounds surrounding the Castle and the moat were really large. The moat provided a great reflecting pool for the buildings on the top of the walls opposite. The rain came and went during the morning and the weather was hot and humid.
After touring the Castle we walked to the subway station and took a train to Dotonbori, a shopping area in downtown Osaka along one of the rivers that runs through the city. It’s absolutely packed with shops and people.
We had heard that Ichiran ramen was really good an the dining experience was unique. We heard right!
Then we struck gold in our search for the perfect cheesecake! Interestingly, this cheesecake tasted even better once it had cooled off. It was a bit soft and eggy when hot out of the oven. Once cooled though the consistency firmed up and the texture was super creamy. So good!
There are so many animal themed cafes in Japan. Not just cat cafes, there a dog, owl/bird and best of all hedgehog!
Next we headed to one of the very large department stores to look for Tokyo 2020 Olympic gear. Jaedan modeled it well I think!
At this point Tien, Tracey and I we getting pretty tired and we were fighting a cold, so we split up. Caelan, Jaedan, Shelby and Kenzie headed to a place called “Spa World”. <<< You should click on that link.
This place looked amazing and if we were feeling better we would have gone along.
Instead we saw a Spider-Man on a bike. And when we stopped at a local grocery store (not a 7-11) we were blown away by the cost of a bunch of grapes. That’s $30! Wow!
Bananas were pretty reasonably price, apples were too bad, but grapes, wow. It was actually pretty difficult to find fresh fruits and veggies in Japan. Most of it has to be shipped in which drives up the price and availability. Plenty of meat sticks though!
And that mostly wraps up our trip! All that’s left is a very long day of train and plane travel tomorrow.
I’ll be posting about that day and then I’ll have a post with some overall thoughts about the trip. And a post comparing the $5, $12 and $40 meat sticks. I mean, why not, it turns out that the $40 meat stick was actually worth it!