Metro 21 Hotel Osaka

... listata maailman hienoimpien junareittien listalle...

Takaisin Osakassa oltiin viimein kello 20.30 aikoihin ja käytiin vielä nopeasti pyörähtämässä Osakan-aseman lähellä olevissa valtavissa kaupoissa, etsimässä hiukan kaikenlaista tavaraa jatkoa varten. Nyt on pakko alkaa latautua jo tulevaan...

Jaahas ja tästä alkaa nyt todellinen humuviikonloppu! Tiedossa on kolme päivää silkkaa juhlaa, joten päivityksissä saattaa esiintyä pieniä viivästyksiä... :-)

... noin 10 minuuttia, eikä siinä ehtinyt kuin lyödä ahterinsa penkkiin ja avata teejuoman, niin oltiinkin jo perillä! Shin-Koben asemalta lähdettiin kävelemään (tietysti taas) kohti Kobe Lumierea ja löydettiinkin paikka parin kilometrin talsimisen jälkeen.

Ja kannatti kyllä kävellä, koska tosi komea oli tämä Lumiere ja aivan mielettömästi oli tullut ihmisiä sitä katsomaan. Valoista oli tehty ikään kuin kirkon seinät ja massiivista kirkkomusiikkia raikui ...

Today we spent the morning to touring around Kyoto before catching our train back to Tokyo. We stopped to visit the Nijo Castle which was originally bulit in 1603 as the official home of the first Tokugawa Shogun. Although it didn't have the beautiful gardens like the temples it was still a very interesting place. It even had a moat like European castles. We then went to see the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go ...

... table. She got me back though...this was the week she decided she didn't want her nappy for a minute longer and oh, the joys of a begginer - IT landed on the floor and I was right behind her to smear it into the tiles...aye, very nice Aggie, you cry over some spilled porridge yet I have to act as a human poopa-scoopa! For once my hands didn't go directly to my mouth, so all is ...

... soccer jersey which was my Lemon shirt. When I sat there I realised I was the only westerner in the place and the only Australian surrounded by Japanese soccer fans in their jerseys. Then walked in a white guy who sat next to me. I thought he must be Aussie... In fact he was German, didn't care about the game and was there to meet friends. There was a Japanese guy called Naoke (a friend of the German) who was an avid soccer fan and knew more about the Australian players ...

We landed in Osaka. I could have walked back to my old apartment in Hotarugaike, but, not being a student anymore, I had no desire to relive the old days in a 1K. Mama, Saho and Yasuko picked us up and took us to Takarazuka, where we met my old friend, Non-chan, who still travels the world at 84. In the evening, the whole family met up for dinner and we made friends with Sho and Naho, who are absolutely adorable and I would like to take them home with me, please.

... Osaka railway station and bailed. We made our way through the crowded station with 2 now utterly exhausted girls. On our way upstairs from the platform some guy took a swandive onto the tracks 15 meters in front of us, causing a mad rush of official looking guys with torches and hats. I bundled the girls upstairs as quick as i could incase a 180km/h train came barrelling through there at that point, but from what i heard behind us he was ok. It ...

... 20) and sit in the good areas until people kick you out. The place didn't really fill up until the end when the really good wrestlers have their matches, so you could pretty much sit wherever for half the day. Even with the junior wrestlers, the matches were very entertaining to watch. The ring is on a raised platform, which is only wide enough for mabye a foot around the ring at the sides. Many of the wrestlers would take massive falls when getting tossed out of the ring ...

... and back again, and then out into central Kyoto. Because the rain was intensifying, we again ducked into a noodle shop - this time for ramen - and ordered two bowls of the standard, each for about seven dollars. But what really amazed us was the fact that we were instructed by the waitstaff to place our orders for the foodstuffs we wanted by purchasing tickets for same in a vending machine located prominently by the door. The thought of purchasing noodle soup from a vending machine was ...

... you see the gigantic, disturbing head that looks like a cross between Uncle Sam and one of those evil ventriloquist dummies that comes to life and kills people. Surprisingly, the neighborhood's likeness to America, or at least to New York, was surprisingly accurate once you got past the fact that they had to put the Statue of Liberty on top of a building. The streets were narrow, and while certainly not dirty by New York standards, would have severely disappointed the ...