Wednesday 10th April 2019

When you check in at the hotel I was staying in Osaka, they give you breakfast coupons – as with all the hotels I have stayed in… The person at reception gives you a card to place at your table to ensure you reserve your own seat. Here’s another buffet breakfast. I really liked the croissants!!!

The dining area is so classy… You can see the public walking past and rushing to get to work… It was raining that day, so there were a lot of umbrellas out.

I really needed to go out… Didn’t want to because of the rain. This was the first time I think that it’s rained on me in the morning.

When I got to the station, and as it’s so big, I decided to listen to other tourists and go to the tourist reception for advice. I wanted to go to Osaka Castle… So I went onto the Osaka Loop Line, then got off at Osaka Jo Koen – Osaka Gardens.

The surroundings of the castle is amazing, even in the rain I felt its magnificence. There was a lot of uphill walking, but that was ok compared to Hakone!

In the end, I bought a ticket for ¥600 to go up the castle… It’s spectacular from the top!

I love this castle! So grand!

Next door is a museum and where there’s some shops… One of the shopkeepers in the Ninja Shop took a lot of my coins in exchange for notes. I think it’s hard for them to always go to the bank during the day to get change I guess. Oh well. But I did rebuild my coin collection. I was going to use some of the coins for my laundry, but I ended up hand-washing some of my clothes instead of wasting my time in the laundry room.

The surroundings of the castle is beautiful…

Time to head back to the hotel… I didn’t like this rain… As it was too early for me to go back to my room because of the cleaners, I went exploring in Osaka Station where I found the Pokémon Centre! Woohoo! Pikachu, I found you!! 😊

And then I had ramen… You’re allowed to help yourself with kimchi and bamboo shoots. The kimchi was so sweet – I think to suit Japanese people’s taste buds – not bad!

Address: 3 Chome-2-136 Umeda, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0001, Japan

I found this statue quite funny… Not sure what it’s for…

Well, one thing I really wanted to try was the takoyaki balls from the West Coast of Japan. This place looked decent, and I think may have been featured in a manga series called The Solitary Gourmet, where a business man goes out to places for meetings, and then ends up eating alone in a place he bumps into… pretty much what I do in my life when I travel…

This was a nice random shot… I didn’t ask the guy to pose for me. Hah!

The takoyaki balls are very different to the ones I would have. They don’t add mayo and fish flakes on top with a lot of seaweed seasoning… it was rather plain, and not doughy at all…

Ended up eating inside the shop… I even asked for lemon shochu… maybe a bit too early for drinking in Japan (it was early afternoon – so a lunchtime drink is acceptable for me), but I’m just a lone traveler passing through. Sorry to the family who sat next to me.

Address: Aizuya, 3 Chome-2-136 Umeda, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0001, Japan

Went back to the hotel room, took a bit of rest,  and then went back out to see the other side of Osaka, and see if there was anything exciting near the hotel… nope… nothing exciting… all the shops seem to be underground as well.

Last meal of the day was this tonkatsu bento from Tonkatsu Ganko near the hotel… I was missing my vegetable intake.

The shop has an Instagram campaign, whereby if you take a picture and post it, show the people that you have posted it and you will get a free dessert…

Address: Umesan Kouji, 3 Chome-2-136 Umeda, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0001, Japan

Well I had a long day… I was also contacting Bamba Experience to sort out my transfer to the airport on this day. Didn’t want another mishap!

End of Day 12.