Osaka, Arashiyama and Kyoto

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After six wonderful nights in Tokyo we packed up our hotel room and headed to the train station to start the journey to our next stop, Osaka.

We caught the metro train to Tokyo station, bought some lunch and then purchased tickets for the shinkansen to Osaka. The trip to Osaka was uneventful, particularly for Elodie who had a nap. Once we arrived we transferred to another local train and after a short ride we arrived at our AirBNB.

I had booked a cute three bedroom place for us in Umeda, Osaka. As soon as we opened the front door I think Scott and I thought 'oh no' because of the very steep stairs! We turned on the aircon, checked out the (lovely) rooms and then headed out to a nearby playground.

Elodie enjoyed having the opportunity to run around a bit. The playground was Mt Fuji themed and had some pretty wonderful slides, and most importantly a drinking fountain she could play with. We played at the playground for a while before heading off to look for dinner.

I had found a yakitori restaurant which got wonderful reviews on the train on the way to Osaka so we set off in the direction of it. Part of the walk was along the Tenjinbashi, which is said to be the longest shopping strip in Osaka. It takes about 40 minutes to walk the length of it apparently.

When we arrived at the yakitori restaurant it was pretty clear it wasn't right for us. It was about 80AUD for the set menu (the only option) and definitely didn't look like the place you bring a wet, messy nearly two year old to. We retraced our steps and eventually ended up at an Izakaya just near our AirBNB.



While waiting for our food to arrive we were presented with a little 'free' starter which many Japanese restaurants offer. Elodie helped herself to a snail (which I looked on in disgust). She enjoyed the sauce on the snail, but when Scott extracted it from the shell she was rather unimpressed with the texture. Scott liked them though.



The rest of our food arrived shortly after; edamame, nasu dengaku, karaage, corn tempura, noodles and a cold chicken, fig and sesame sauce dish. All the food was delicious - definitely a good start to our meals in Osaka!



The next morning Elodie woke up quite early so after breakfast we headed to the playground. Elodie harassed the poor birdlife and hugged some construction signs, which oddly were shaped as cute animals, and told them that she loved them.



An hour or so later we headed to the station to make our way to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, via a few trains. Once we got off at the correct station we headed for the exit, as Elodie hugged all the sea creatures on the posters advertising the aquarium along the way.



After a quick stop at 7/11 to pick up some snacks we made our way to the aquarium, purchased tickets and were inside as soon as it opened at 9am.



The Osaka aquarium is apparently the largest in the world. It has some lovely animals on display (with somewhat dubious ethics) including penguins, dolphins, sharks and of course fish. The displays were for the most part really lovely, but the crowning glory was the central tank representing the Pacific Ocean which was 9m deep. This tank housed two whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, manta rays and lots of fish. I think my favourite tank was home to the very appropriately named Japanese giant spider crabs which were giant! I'd seen photos of these crabs but didn't quite appreciate how large they were.

After a fun morning at the aquarium we made our way to a nearby udon restaurant for lunch. Lunch was delicious; not quite as good as the incredible udon in Tokyo, but close.

After lunch we changed Elodie in a laneway and then she had a nap in the pram while we made our way back to Umeda. We hopped off a couple of stops early to explore some shops, including another visit to Loft (and their umbrella and suitcase sections - two of Elodie's favourite things at the moment).

For dinner we decided to try okonomiyaki. In hindsight choosing a meal which is cooked on a very hot hotplate on your table probably wasn't the best choice with a toddler who isn't the best at listening! It was a rather stressful meal, but no one got burns and I enjoyed the okonomiyaki and Scott and Elodie enjoyed their yakisoba.

The following morning Elodie woke up at a slightly more reasonable time. We all ventured to 7/11 to pick up breakfast including a very yummy yuzu and chicken dish for me, Japanese cheesecake, yoghurt, the delicious pancakes with margarine and maple syrup and fried rice. Elodie ate nearly all the cheesecake.

We spent the morning at Kids Plaza Osaka which is a massive kids museum / science centre / cultural centre / indoor playground a short walk from our AirBNB. Elodie had lots of fun running around. Her favourite things were the hand washing station (go figure), a little turtle in a tank, the drums, the mock grocery store (where she definitely stood out as not Japanese as she didn't queue nicely and wait her turn unlike all the other kids!) and the playground. Surprisingly she was not a fan of the giant bubble you could stand inside. Similar to the toy museum in Tokyo, this museum seemed to be largely staffed by grandparents / wanna-be-grandparents.

For lunch we headed to a nearby soba restaurant. The food was delicious; the soba were nice (though I prefer udon) and my karaage had a sesame sauce on it which was delicious. Elodie was pretty tired and cranky by the end of the meal so we headed straight back home for her and Scott to have a nap.

After their nap we made our way to Namba which is the other main shopping area in Osaka. We walked around the shops for a while looking for hairclips for Elodie (unsuccessfully, though we nearly bought a funny headband with a birthday cake on top of it from Daiso...I regret not getting it!) and chopsticks (also unsuccessful, couldn't find the ones I wanted).

Dinner was at a yakitori restaurant. We had heaps of different skewers and they were all delicious aside from the one with weird chicken on it. Elodie ate a whole bowl of chips.

After dinner we made our way to Dontonburi to check out the neon lights and giant food signs on the front of restaurants. Elodie loved the lights and the massive animals and the street had a great atmosphere. It didn't seem to have changed much since the last time we were there.

The following morning we set off for Universal Studios. Disneyland had been such a hit that we thought we may as well check it out as well.

Unfortunately I hadn't been able to buy tickets online so when we arrived (prior to opening) we had to join the already very long queue for tickets. The queuing, ticketing and security process wasn't as organised as Disneyland. There was also clearly a different demographic - far less children and way more young adults.

Once inside the park, we headed straight to the Harry Potter area (both us are big fans, and Elodie is at risk of being disowned if she doesn't like Harry Potter). We walked through Hogsmeade and joined the queue for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.

Universal Studios has a 'child swap' option where you queue as a family and then, just before the ride, one parent is taken to a waiting area with their child while the other parent is given a pass. Once the first parent finishes the ride, they swap places and the other parent can go on the ride without having to join the beginning of the queue.

I went first while Scott and Elodie waited. The ride was a combination of a rollercoaster / 3D screens which simulated a flight over Hogwarts complete with dementors, quidditch etc. It was fun; though I wasn't sure Scott would love it as he gets motion sick. He survived though!

After the ride we walked around Hogsmeade for a while. Elodie LOVED the post office with all the owls. I managed to extract her a few times but she ran straight back. Somehow when we finally left we made it out without buying an owl.

After Harry Potter we headed to the Universal Wonderland section of the park which is a bit more kid friendly (Sesame Street etc). Unfortunately Elodie was too short for most of the rides, including the ones that seemed like they would be suitable.

First stop was the spinning cupcakes, which didn't spin as fast as the teacups at Disneyland but still resulted in an enthusiastic "MORE!" when the ride finished.

From there we went to the indoor playground area where Elodie had a run around and tried to push her way to the front of the slide queue (unlike all the Japanese kids who queued very nicely).

After letting Elodie run around for a while we headed back to the spinning cupcakes. We even managed to convince Scott to join us as they spun slowly. He didn't love it, but Elodie enjoyed having both of us on the ride with her.

After Universal Wonderland we decided it was time for lunch. The food options at Universal Studios didn't seem as good as at Disneyland and they don't let you bring food in either. We eventually chose the Amity Landing restaurant (which is Jaws themed). Scott and I both had a fried chicken sandwich with chips and Elodie got shark meat nuggets (which she didn't touch) and fries (which she did).

After lunch we went to the Jurassic Park themed area. We spent quite a while watching the boats splash into the water at the end of the 'Jurassic Park - the Ride' ride which Elodie loved. Particularly when the boats splashed water all over her. Luckily it was very hot so it didn't matter that we got wet!

Elodie also enjoyed watching the people flying around on the Flying Dinosaur rollercoaster. She particularly liked listening to their screams (and joined in). I decided that I should go on the Flying Dinosaur ride; Scott opted out so set off to explore other areas of the park with Elodie while trying to get her to nap.

While I waited in the very long queue, Elodie and Scott ran into a parade. Elodies nap was delayed a bit while she had a dance and enjoyed watching all the various creatures and vehicles.

After about an hour of waiting in the very long queue in the direct sun I finally made it to the lockers. I emptied my pockets, had them checked and then climbed the stairs to hop on the ride. Once I finally reached the front we were sent to the waiting area for our row.

Once the previous riders hopped off, we were let through the gate and onto the ride. We were all strapped in...but when they did their final checks something obviously wasn't right so we had to hop off again and wait a bit longer while they did some test runs and (presumably) fixed something.

We eventually hopped back on and this time everything was working fine because we set off. With this ride you the chair swings up so that you are on your belly / back flying through the air. There are lots of loops, steep drops and tunnels and it's very very fast. It was lots of fun, but was over in what felt like about 30 seconds. I'm not sure it was worth the hour long queue but I'm glad I did it!

After the ride I caught up with Elodie and Scott again. Elodie was still snoozing so I sat with her for a while so that Scott could go on the Jaws ride. Another great initiative at Universal Studios is the 'single rider' queue which is exactly as it sounds - a separate queue for people who are riding alone (or don't care that they might not be sitting beside the person they're at the park with. Because of this the queue was only about 10 minutes long, which was good as he described it as 'dated'.

With Elodie still snoozing I decided to go on Jurassic Park - the Ride. The single rider queue moved very quickly and I only had to wait about 10 minutes. I was sat on a 'boat' next to a mother and daughter (the daughter was terrified already). The ride took us into 'Jurassic Park'; the first part was very calm and then it became clear that the dinosaurs had taken over. We eventually ended up going up a steep incline and then, after seeing the t-rex at the top, hurtled down the steep slope and crashed into the water (which was the part Elodie had enjoyed watching).

Once the splash cleared I saw Elodie and Scott waving at me. She was very excited that I was on the boat that splashed into the water.

From there we headed to WaterWorld to watch the show. We thought Elodie would love watching the boats etc. How wrong we were. As soon as the show started she was scared by all the loud noises and upset that people were kicking / punching each other. Elodie and I left midway through while Scott watched to the end. Turns out it was the right decision as he said it got even louder and more violent.

After the show we dropped Scott at Jurassic Park so that he could go on the 'Jurassic Park - the ride' ride.

Elodie and I headed back to Universal Wonderland for Elodie to have another run around. We ended up in a shop selling Hello Kitty and Sesame Street toys. Elodie had so much fun playing with them and talking to the toys. I think all the staff enjoyed watching her playing and being cheeky.

It was now getting close to 4:30 so we decided to go for a bit of a walk and then head out of the park. On the way out came across a very cheesy dance performance; Elodie joined in for a while (we have a cute video of her very dorky dancing).

For dinner we headed to Din Tai Fung. I was hoping they'd have the amazing chicken xiao long bao I've had in their restaurants in other countries but was out of luck. We ordered a bunch of other dishes and a few dessert dumplings. The food was all delicious. We ordered a second serve of the cucumber and one of the chicken dishes because they were so yummy. Unfortunately our dessert took ages to come (pretty sure they forgot about it) and Elodie was getting quite restless / cranky as she'd had a (great) long day and it was getting late so we had to leave without it.

The following morning we set off just after 8 for Arashiyama. Arashiyama, which is just outside Kyoto, is most famous for its bamboo grove. The train ride from Osaka took about 1hr 20 minutes.

The walk to the bamboo grove took us over a bridge with a lovely view of the river and mountains on one side and a rather less impressive view in the other direction. Once we reached the main part of the town it was pretty clear it was a tourist hot spot; heaps of souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes and not a lot else.

Eventually we reached the bamboo grove and set off. It was a really pleasant walk in the shady bamboo. Elodie enjoyed strolling along and looking for bugs. At the end of the first section of bamboo we stopped while she talked to / looked at ants. When we said it was time to leave she cried because she didn't want to leave them.

It seemed like a lot of people turn back and retrace their steps once they finish walking through the first section of bamboo, but we decided to continue on. We walked past Tenryu-ji temple and until we reached a second longer stretch of bamboo which was very pretty.

Once we reached the end we turned around and headed back towards the town. Elodie insisted on pushing the pram, from the handle, which made for a very slow trip because she kept getting angry when the pram wouldn't go in the direction she wanted it to. Rather amusing.

We decided to stop in at Tenryu-ji on the way back to the town. We bought tickets to the garden only as we didn't fancy taking a two year old into a temple with lovely paper walls. The temple buildings have been built numerous times since it was originally constructed in 1339, most recently around 1912, but the gardens are apparently in their original form.

The gardens were really lovely. We were definitely glad we stopped in. There were winding paths, lots of pretty trees and a lovely pond which the temple buildings overlook. The gardens were made even more lovely by the nice backdrop of the mountains in the distance.

After walking around the gardens for a while we sat by the pond so that Elodie could have a snack. Once she was done we decided it was probably time to head back to the train station to make our way to Kyoto.

Elodie fell asleep on the way back to the train station and slept the whole way to Kyoto. When we arrived we headed to the Daimaru food market area (which was just near where we'd stayed last time we were in Kyoto) to take a look around.

From Daimaru we made our way to Nishiki market which is a long narrow street with food stalls either side. It was very busy and not the ideal place to take a pram with a sleeping toddler, but we walked along the whole length without Elodie waking. We decided it probably wasn't the best place to pick up lunch as there wasn't much I would happily eat and there weren't heaps of seats (and definitely not room to park a pram!).

After we left the market Elodie woke up. We decided to try a very gourmet restaurant called McDonalds. I had a teriyaki chicken burger, Scott had a soy sauce beef burger and Elodie had a Happy Meal with milk. I actually really enjoyed my burger. Scott wasn't so impressed with his. Elodie enjoyed her milk and ate none of her burger.

After lunch we made our way towards Gion. We walked around the streets for a while which seemed busier with car traffic than I remembered from our last trip. We took a wrong turn and ended up crossing a cute little bridge over a little stream which was very pretty.

We decided it was probably time to head back towards Osaka so headed to the train station. The trip between the two cities is pretty quick, so we arrived back in Osaka after about 50 minutes.

We decided to try a tempura restaurant near Osaka-Umeda station for dinner. When we arrived (before 6pm) there was already a queue which was definitely a promising sign. Scott joined the queue while Elodie ran around and I tried to keep her from tripping up commuters. We eventually joined him in the queue and Elodie 'made friends' with two women who were behind us.

Dinner lived up to the expectations set by the long queue. We were seated at the bar so had a good view of everything being cooked. I had a range of different vegetables (including pumpkin, eggplant, zucchini, lotus root and beans) as well as egg; Scott got the fish set and we ordered Elodie a prawn and a few vegetables. It was really delicious. A good final dinner in Osaka!

We had a really good time in Osaka. We're definitely seeing a different side to the cities this trip compared to previous, but it's still really interesting and lots of fun seeing Elodie have a wonderful time exploring the world.

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