...... Sky High

Day 5

As promised - today was going to be quiet seeing as though we had a big day yesterday. So today is a quick trip to Osaka....... Osaka is about 20 minutes away on the train so it's a trip in a Local train for us.

First thing we noticed when we got to Osaka - was that the train station is call 'Osaka City Station' and it is!!! The place is massive.  There's a loads of shops underground (even spotted a Top Shop!!). You could easily spend hours just wandering round the station!!  At one side there are designer shops and then there are the more high street names, but all underground.

But I managed to drag Scott away from the shops (!) and we were on our way to the New Umeda City. Here we find the Umeda Sky Building which has the Floating Garden Observatory ...... About 173 meters up!!!

So ears prepared .... Up we went.  We took a glass lift up first, then an escalator ....... I have to say, if the escalators were not working, I was NOT climbing these stairs!!

The view from the top was lovely.  The day is a little cloudy, so we couldn't see too far, but we did get to see some great views.  We even stopped for a coffee so we could sit in the window and check out Osaka from above.

From here, you can go up one step further to the outside observatory floor - the floating garden. As we were going round, there as one area that was set aside.  Further investigation showed that there was a few railings with gold padlocks attached. Apparently on a night, the floor in this area sparkles with stars and lights and a loving couple can come and sit in this area on the special chairs and attached their padlock to the fence. By this time, Scott had done a dash and was round the other side.... Ahhhh - romance!!!!

So as I'm not going to get my padlock, it's back down to the ground and on to the Takimi-Koji market. This is a replica of a Japanese street form the Showa period and is mainly full of restaurants.  The smells were amazing.......

We are now going downtown to Namba  In particular I wanted to go to Dotonbori. This is the main hub and at night it is lit by hundreds of neon lights and mechanized signs, including the famous Glico Running Man sign and Kani Doraku crab sign.  Though the Glico Man wasn't lit up when we were there ..... Bah!!!

Puff a fish anyone???

Donki

Scott spotted the Don Quijote shop..... Dear god - this could take a while. If he can spend as long as he does in the 100 yen shop - this could be a potential nightmare!! For those who don't know Don Quijote (or Donki) is a chain of discount shops selling everything and I mean everything!! The Donki in Osaka has 6 floors and we visited every one!!! What can I say - the man likes a bargain!!! However, after all of that, he only bought some sweets. Though in his defence, some of the stuff he was looking at would have been difficult to take home.

Back out on the streets, it is starting to get quite dark, so the neon is starting to shine brightly.  The Glico Man is still not lit..... Bit I'm not bitter!! We started to go through the Shinsaibashi shopping mall, but it was waaaaay to expensive for our tastes.

It is now absolutely heaving with both tourists and locals (don't know how they put up with it all) and it's easy to see how this is the entertainment hub of Osaka and where everyone comes to blow off steam after a long day at work.

So now we are back at the apartment for an early night as tomorrow is a huge day .... It's Tokyo!!!! Early start so need an early night.

It's still very warm here at the moment, but forecasts are saying it is going to cool down quite a bit next week ... I do hope so.  There's also a chance we will come back just a little fitter than when we left.. I forgot how many steps you had to go up and down in these subways and train stations - my poor calf muscles ..  They have no idea what has hit them.  It's worse when you see the old Japanese ladies bounce up them steps and you 
have to stop for breath  half way up!!!

Anyway - until next time ..... Oyasumi Nasai xoxox