1/23/2006 2:17 PM -
In Osaka again now. Just can't get enough of the place. ;) Actually, my dad had another meeting.... That's besides the point.
So as for today so far, not much going on. Wake up, go to the station, ride a shinkansen to Osaka (lots of sudoku and looking at snow....), then taking the subway here. Not much.
However, yesterday I didn't get to write much about what I did.... I was really tired, and wanted to go to sleep. Which was then hindered by my dad's snoring..... But oh well.
So yesterday I got up, took a shower, then went downstairs for breakfast, courtesy of the hotel. Had some fish, some eggs, some sausage, some yogurt, some bread.... Good breakfast! :p Then we went back upstairs to kill some time before catching a train to the Osaka Castle. I practiced my kanji and found that I could easily remember 43 kanji characters. My dad taught (and re-taught in some cases) me a few more, so I probably know about 50 now.
After that, we checked out, stored some stuff in a coin locker at Shin-Osaka (the train station), then caught a train to Osaka Castle. We met Genki, the son of the guy who treated us to puffer fish, at the station. He went with us to the castle. We walked from the station to the castle, which wasn't too far.... But from the gate to the actual building was insane! Lots of stairs, lots of slopes, lots of walking.... That thing is HUGE!!!!!!! Beautiful, but HUGE!!!!! When we got to the museum part of the castle, the building, my dad bought our tickets to go in. We took the elevator up to the 5th floor, then went up to the 8th floor, which was the viewpoint. An amazing view of the park (where the castle is), and the city.... Wow! I got a few good pictures, and my dad got some too. I'll be sure to post some.
After walking around the viewpoint, we started down the stairs. It's set up like a museum, so there was lots to see. A lot of funny hats..... And the samurai stuff was REALLY cool! Lots of really old stuff was there.... The samurai stuff looked really heavy.... And the king's hats made me laugh.... One looked like a porcupine... Not really... But it did to me. :p A lot of the history stuff I didn't really understand, since they only had a little bit in English, but looking at the stuff was still really cool
On the second floor we came across something that really made us laugh..... It was a business, involving remakes of the funny hats! It was ¥300 to try them on.... I thought that was so funny. .. Clever business really... I didn't do it, but I'm sure lots of silly tourists would.
On the first floor was the gift shop, where I found my favorite "silly tourist" item! Some places in Japan sell little medallions, and either a keychain or pendant to put it in. You can also get your name and date inscribed in the medallion for a little extra. I happen to LOVE these things.... Silly tourist item, I know, but I love them.... I have 6 or 7 at home. So of course, I had to get one. It was the first thing I bought in Japan. I bought the gold coin (there was a silver one too, but I like gold... :p) and pendant, because I always get the pendant.... Then got it inscribed for ¥30. I'm wearing it now.... It's very shiny. :p
After buying my pendant, which I was very happy about, we went back out to the park. We went up some more stairs to look out at the city. Even at the base of the building you're still pretty high over the city, so it was a nice view. Then I went and pretended to shoot an invisible gun out of one of the little notches in the wall.... No reason really, just felt like it.
After that, we went back down the hill. Near the bottom there were some of the original stones from the castle. Just sitting there in the middle of the park. I hopped up on one and made myself the self-proclaimed ruler of the castle. My dad got a picture of Genki and me on the stone... It's a good picture. I'll post it later (once again, technically I'll post this later too ;)).
After that, we went back to the station. Genki went home, and we left to lunch with some people in Kyoto. First we went back to Shin-Osaka (the Osaka train station, where we had left some of our stuff in a coin locker). We took the train to Kyoto, then took a taxi to where we were having lunch. We had a great lunch of sashimi and lots of other stuff that I'm still not entirely sure what they were. Lots of assorted yummy stuff though.... Except for the pumpkin. That part wasn't yummy. Me and squash don't get along....
Anyway, we had lunch, then took a taxi back to Kyoto station. We switched to an earlier train, since ours wasn't leaving for 2 hours (there was another leaving in 10 minutes), then took that to a place that I don't know the name of..... We had time to kill, so that's when we went on a quest for a wifi network. Our failed journey..... I would have either needed to pay for the wifi or a Japanese provider.... Strange.
So instead of getting wifi, we ended up at Starbucks.... Which was actually an attempt to get wireless.... One that failed, since the Starbucks didn't have its own wireless, because it was in a train station (JR, Japan Railway Group, had the wireless, and they charged). So instead we got a snack. My dad got me cheesecake and a hot chocolate while I tried to get the wifi to work.... Good food (and drink), bad attempt at internet-ness. ;)
Since our internet quest failed, we took a train to wherever it was that my dad's meeting was at. Tried to find wifi there too.... Failed. Found a couple pay computers (wrote about those yesterday), so we used those for 10 minutes... Until they stole our money.
Since our internet quest was going so badly, we decided to just go to the meeting. We walked to the Mekiki office, then waited in the room where the coats were. I tried to get internet there too... It was an open network with a great connection, didn't ask for a password or anything, but Safari kept telling me I wasn't connected to the internet. So I played Game Boy instead.
After a while my dad and I went into the room where all the people were.... At this point I was sleepy and confused, so I'm still not entirely sure what was going on......... But we ate food. That much I know! And some people talked to me. I saw one of the people I met when I went to LA with my dad a few years ago.... Which was kind of weird. But oh well.
My dad was talking with lots of people, and I was getting really tired.... So I went back to the room where everyone left there coats, and played more Game Boy. Some people were going in and out, but I was mostly ignored.... Except for when this one guy went in and made a balloon poodle... Then several people were talking to me. But mostly I was either with my dad or being ignored. Or both. :p
I'm still not entirely sure what was going on there, so I can't really say much about it.... But eventually we left and took the subway to Kanda. We walked to Kanda's house, ate some strawberries and duck/pidgeon/dove cookies (they're really dove cookies.... But I thought they were ducks, then I thought they were pigeons, before figuring out they were doves), then I wrote my entry from yesterday.... Then I tried (and eventually succeeded) in sleeping, despite my dad's loud snoring.
So yesterday was a long busy day. My knees are killing me today, because of all those stairs... Both at the castle and subways..... Mostly castle. I'm alive and well though, and I hope no one is worrying about me (mainly my mom), since I don't think I really said when exactly I was leaving and coming back.... Hopefully I'll get a wifi network I can get on for free soon! And just to clarify if I DO get to post this later, I'll be going back to Chiba on the 25th.
