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Published: July 18th 2017
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Geo: 34.6928, 135.493
Well as they say, "All good things must come to an end." This morning we caught a train from Kyoto to Osaka, Japan, the final stop in our travels. We will be spending the next two days here. We arrived with no problems and quite easily located our hotel. We are getting pretty good at figuring out these subway systems. Which train to catch is not the issue, it's which exit do you leave the station from. One of the stations today had 28 exits. If you leave by the wrong one it throws all your navigation off. We did well, though.
Having the task of locating the hotel handled and our luggage dropped off we planned our destinations for the day over a coffee and muffin. It was quite relaxing.
The Osaka Castle Park was where we decided to go first. It is best known for the cherry and plum blossoms in the spring but it was still beautiful to see and was on route for our next stop
which was the Osaka Castle Museum. In 1496 a high ranking monk of the Joudoshinshu sect had a residence built near the present day site of the Osaka Castle.This eventually grew
into a large temple. It was burned to the ground in 1580 and reconstruction began in 1583. It was burned and struck by lightning over time and in 1931 public efforts and enthusiasm brought about the reconstruction of the main tower, In 1997 it became included in the list of Registered Cultural Properties of Japan. Today it is a museum. The area around the Castle was damaged during the bombing raids of World War II, but restored and turned into a historic site park after the war.
There is almost no end to neighborhoods to visit. We wandered the streets of the Higashi Shinsaibashi area where you will find both established and new restaurants with all kinds of food. from there we walked on to the southern area of Shinsaibashi where there are blocks and blocks of shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. The streets are filled with people and many of the streets are closed to traffic. We crossed over the Tombori River and continued onto Dotonbori Street which also has more shopping and plenty of restaurants. It was here where we decided upon a place for dinner. I had Chicken Teriyaki over rice with miso soup and dumplings. Linda
had fried chicken with rice, miso soup, and pickles. Both were very good. We continued to walk till well after dark stopping to hear a street performer sing. She played the piano as well and was very talented. We also made a stop in a corner bar for a glass of plum wine. First after sipping the taste was sweet but after a second it became tart. It was good. The interesting part of this stop was that the bar was probably five by five feet outside and smaller inside. The bartender stands in a very tiny area and the patrons stand as well. The actual bar is probably 3 feet long. It was very unique. Slowly we made our way back to the hotel and decided to call it a day!
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Pearl
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Definitely a treat for all the senses. The real question is- were you able to get the Starbucks mug?