Day 2-12/12 Osaka Castle

Hubby had suggested a package tour but I reminded him that we might have trouble keeping up with tour schedules.  So this trip was all own itinerary and public transport.  I picked hotels located near train stations.  I would say taking trains was part of the fun, although it was sometimes confusing and tiring. 

Now for our first proper day in Japan.  :)  We didn't wake up early at all this trip, generally leaving our hotel past 10am.  Walked to the Shinsaibashi station to get to 'Tanimachi 4-chome' for Osaka castle.  Funny thing was, the numbers were spelled out and we had to google that 4 was 'yon' in Japanese.  Meaning 'Tanimachi Yonchome' was the one we wanted and not the other 'Tanimachi ---chome' stations'!  See how fun it was?  Haha.

Got the station, now look for the platform

It was the tail end of autumn and I got my wish of seeing colourful leaves, yay

Orange and red leaves

Green leaves

Red leaves

And gingko leaves on the ground

Such gorgeous weather.  :)  The castle grounds were extensive but it was lovely to walk.

Me and hubby

Reached the castle after a leisurely walk.

Us and the castle

SE and the castle

JE was happy to find this from a vending machine - basically lemon-flavoured ice chunks.  Apparently she had been doing research and had some 'targets' in Japan. 

Got my lemon ice chunks!

Hubby got some wagyu sushi.  His target for Japan was to enjoy and not think about money.  Me, I decided I didn't appreciate wagyu enough to keep ordering it.

This is good!

It was getting late so we just grabbed lunch within the castle grounds.  Ramen, okonomiyaki and takoyaki to fill the stomach.

Lunch first

We loitered around the castle grounds for some hours.  Bought snacks from Lawson and sat on this bench to eat.  Eventually SE wanted the toilet and hubby took her.  JE and me sat there waiting... with the wind plus the ice-cream we were eating, we really felt the cold!

Eating our snacks

Eventually we made our way back to the hotel for some rest.  Emerged to look for dinner... err it was at this restaurant with a Japanese name which I have forgotten.  Hubby got the premium 'black pork' set:

Glorious food!

SE and me got normal sets.  I like that sets like these contain a lot of variety - often only one small piece of something.

Also nice!

That night we went looking for JE's Smiski figurines at Kiddyland.  They were sold out so we went back to the hotel to play on our phones till late.  We are on holiday after all.  :)