Day 13 - Osaka Aquarium and Dontonburi

Day 13 - Sept. 16th

Everyone has been sleeping in a little longer than usual over the past few days and has been well needed. Anna looked up things to do and we all decided the aquarium would be fun. We got in the 3pm showing. Due to the large crowds, you buy tickets based on a time slot. This aquarium is the only other one of its kind that houses whale sharks, besides the one in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a pretty large aquarium and we had a great time. It was crazy to see the amount of predator species all in the same tank. Sharks, rays, and dozens of others I have no name of or have seen before. It took us about 2-2.5 hours to get through the aquarium and then we hailed a cab to head over to Dontonburi, the old part of Osaka.\

Day 12 - Sleeping in and Hitting the Fishing Store

Day 12 - Sept. 15th

Seeing that Olivia and I didn't make it in until early in the morning, she decided to sleep in a bit. Anna, LT and I figured we would visit one of the local fishing stores. Being the angler that LT is, where else would an anglers dream store be buy in Japan. Hell, every great make and model of reels, poles and baits are all Japanese made. 

We got the Go cab to pick us up around 11am and headed into the heart of the city. Lure 1Ban was the name of the store and probably the best one by what we could tell. This store was awesome and carried just about everything. I saw baits and types of lures I've never seeShn before. Neat gadgets and things I wish we could bring back, but we are only alloted some many suitcases. I think we are alreary packed to the brim and need to get another back. Thomas ended up buying four new reels - Penn, Shimano and two Daiwas, along with numerous amounts of lures, baits, some hats, knives, etc... Let's just say he was definitely in his happy place.

Anna was in the store for a bit, but left and walked down the street a bit while we were finishing up in the store. When met up with her afterwards and grabbed a bite to eat at a local Bonito specialty restaurant. I believe the restaurant name was Torahachi. LT got a yellowtail sashimi and it was the best I have ever had. It melted in your mouth and was super flavorful. Anna got a cut steak that was very good. I apparently ordered probably the worst thing on the menu. Although it was good, I wish I'd a had the yellowtail.

Finished, we headed back towards our neck of the woods and arrived having Olivia finally rise from her slumber at about 5pm. She shuffled around a bit but headed back to her room, so the three of us headed to Main Street to play a bit of Pachinko and slots. Mom was crushing it. I had no idea what the hell was going on or even what I was doing. Even the slots here are not what we know as slots in the states. We played for about an hour and then headed to Heavens Kitchen for multiple games of darts and drinks.

Day 11 - Osaka Castle and Some Bumming Around

 Day 11 - Sept. 15th

When we arrived in Osaka, we went two hours ahead again. We were not 13 hours ahead of Charlotte and 15 hours ahead of Belize. Needless to say, we all slept in and slowly rolled out of bed around 10:30 to 11am. Once we all had gotten our brains wrapped around where we were, we headed out to see Osaka Castle. Anna stayed home and rested, as her back was hurting a bit. Olivia, LT, and I grabbed a cab over to the castle.

The compound, if I can say that, was at the center of the city and was absolutely breathtaking. The architecture and ground were maticulous. The place was swarming with visitors. Osaka Castle was built in 1587 and was definitely built to withstand not only time but enemies. The wood beams at the gate were massive made from solid trees, dovetailed with no nails - very impressive. The castle itself stood far above the rest of the landscape towering above the now city. Again - very impressive. We all walked around for a bit and then decide to head to a rooftop cafe in one of the new buildings to accommodate tourists for shops and food places.

We left the castle to go have lunch in an area called Main Street. Olivia, LT, and I went to a super yummy grill plate restaurant. We had everything from Wasago beef to liver, to goodness who knows what. All I can tell you is that everything we had there was absolutely delicious. In Japanese they call the type of restaurant a Monjayaki - it is food served and prepared on a hot plate or grill. Fully satisfied, we hopped over to a slots house. Olivia crushed it!

At 4pm we headed back to the house and got Mom moving. The kids stayed home and Anna and I went back to the area the kids and I were at earlier for a little dinner. The food was amazing. As we got close to being done with our meal, Olivia popped in the restaurant. Anna and I tried our luck at the slots place for about 10 minutes, while the kids grabbed some grub at one of the local restaurants and then we made our way home.

We stopped at a Lawsons, a local 7-11 type store, and grabbed all kinds of snacks and then ended up walking home. 

Olivia and I decided to head back out around 10:30pm as the rest of the crew was sleeping. We went back by main street and went into a bar called Heavens Kitchen. There were only 9 people in the bar including the owner so when they heard we lived near Mexico, they all shouted Tequila. Pretty funny actually. We ended up buying several rounds of Tequila shots for everyone and just had an incredible time. We spoke to the owner quite a bit and before we managed to crawl out of there at 2am, they graciously gave Olivia and I t-shirts and real Japanese hand fans.

We then ended up stopping by a place called Seven Days and had a few drinks before starting to sing karaoke. We both sang 2-3 songs each and opted to head back to Heavens Kitchen. We closed the place down and headed home at 5am.

Day 10 - Travel to Osaka

Day 10 - Sept. 14th

Woke up at 4am this morning. Got a cab ride and it took us about an hour to get to the airport. When we got to the ticket counter, the lady told me she could not find our tickets. Made my heart hurt a bit and got me a bit nervous. She asked me to go to their ticket office, which we did and they were able to find the tickets without an issue. We went back to the counter and got the luggage and tickets squared away. Today we were flying Thai Airways. For some reason, I thought we had flown them from Phuket to Bangkok, but actually flew AirAsia.

The flight to Osaka was 5.5 hours and it seemed to go pretty quickly. Some of us slept and I ended up watching a movie. Food on the plane was actually pretty good. We had a croissant, stir-fry chicken, yogurt, and a fruit cup. The Asahi beer didn't hurt either. When we arrived, we grabbed Anna a wheelchair to make it a bit easier for her to get around.

We had a little delay in passport control/immigration and customs, but managed to get through without a hitch. We grabbed a taxi outside. It was an hour to the house and suprisingly $185 USD to get there. None of us wanted to try the subway or train. We all wanted to get there. The ride was pretty neat. We went straight through the heart of Osaka and landed in the cutest little spot right in the heart of it all. 

We arrived at the place a little after 6pm and were greeted by May, the owner. We didn't really understand one another, but we managed to understand all the necessary items. After we got squared away at the house, we walked around the corner to a local restaurant and had dinner. Afterwards, we headed back home and pretty much called it a night.

Day 9 - Pedis with Olivia

Day 9 - Sept. 13th

Long sleep in day today. Nobody was really very motivate today. Olivia was the most motivated and went out and got a facial. When she got back around 1pm, Olivia and I went to Frairy Nail Salon and got a pedicure and manicure. Well, Olivia got a manicure. This was only the 2nd pedicure I have ever gotten and the poor woman could have used power tools on my feet, but was the sweetest and did a fantastic job.

Around 4pm or so we all headed to the IconSiam mall. Of course, we had to eat at Sushiro while Anna was getting a massage.

(Need to come back to this post and expand on our events.)