Friday, August 5, 2017

We had dinner last night in a British pub. I had fish and chips that were the best I have ever had.

Went to bed early again last night. I woke up at midnight again and then went back to sleep for another hour or so. We were both up before 6:00 again. We watched the sunrise from a west view. The sunlight placed shadows on the city and it was beautiful to watch.

We had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel. A bit pricey but worth it. We had a green salad, vegetable soup, yogurt, eggs, bacon, juice and a warm croissant. Service was excellent and we enjoyed it. There was an American man in the restaurant that took a phone call at his table. It made us realize how quiet the Japanese people are and his loud call was disturbing.

After breakfast we headed out for the day before 8:00. Our first destination was the Osaka Castle Museum. Nicole figured out how to get us there by train. We purchased a day pass for each of us and off we went. As we were at the train station during rush hour it was very crowded. It was also very quiet. People were rushing around but everyone was very polite. No one talks much so there were no loud words or angry voices to be heard. We had to change trains several times but never got lost. The mile walk after the last train to the castle was brutal as it was very high humidity and in the 90’s today.

I was disappointed in the Castle. It was the first temple building we had seen and the outside was amazing. Inside was a museum. I was hoping to see the rooms as they might have looked years ago but that wasn’t how they had it displayed. I had to sit on the floor for a bit at one point as I got too hot. We had to walk lots of steps to get to the castle and lots more steps inside it as it had eight floors.

After the castle we headed to the aquarium. It too involved lots of trains and lots of walking to get to the right train. When we got to the aquarium the line to get tickets was estimated to take over an hour just to get inside. We both decided to pass. We rode another very tall Ferris Wheel instead. The Ferris Wheel has 86 cars on it. We saw over the river and out into the ocean from the top. Luckily the cars are air-conditioned.

We headed back to the train station and decided to get lunch. The aquarium mall was too busy so we headed to the train station. We stopped at the cutest little store run by the cutest couple. We both had a teriyaki chicken crepe that was amazing. We were so hot we couldn’t eat anything heavy and that was perfect. After lunch we got back on the trains.

Nicole wanted to go to the Harley Dealer but after two tries to figure out which train to take gave up. We didn’t know how far we were going to have to walk if we got there and it is brutally hot out today. The heat index today was 107.

We made it back to our hotel around 2:00. It took us a while before we stopped sweating enough to take showers. I took a nap after my shower but Nicole stayed awake. We went out looking for dinner. We walked around a bit but didn’t find anything that looked good so ended up going back to the British Pub. It wasn’t as good as last night. Nicole stopped on the way back to our room and got an ice cream bar as her dinner wasn’t good at all.

Tomorrow morning we have over a two-hour train ride to the city where we will start our Kumano Kodo. We will have to drag our suitcases with us until we get to our hotel. So glad we each only brought a day pack and a carry on bag.

After my nap we watched a big thunderstorm move in. The rain never reached us but it was fun watching it from afar. It didn’t help lower the temperature much though as it was still very hot and sticky when we went out for dinner.

Both of us are tired again tonight. We are both nursing some aching body parts tonight as a result of our long day of sight-seeing. Nicole’s Fitbit tells her she did over 39 flights of stairs and over 17,000 steps today. It was a very hot and humid day.

More rain is in the forecast for the next four days. Time will tell how much walking we can do. Maybe the rain would be cooler to walk in then the extreme high heat.

Heat. Walking. Tired. All is well in Japan.