The first full day on the ship started slowly and easily. We did not get to Osaka until after lunch and stayed in port until 10 p.m. We had a chance to look around the ship. It has been fourteen years since our last trip on this ship. It seems like so long ago now. The ship is small (fewer than 2,000 passengers) by today's standards but was one of the largest when it was new in the mid 1990s. We have been on this ship twice before: January 1998 for our 25th anniversary cruise in the Western Caribbean and June 1999 for a trip to Alaska's Inside Passage to meet Pauline and J.W.

Our shore excursion for the day started with a visit to the Sumiyoshi Shrine which is a Shinto shrine. It was founded in the year 211 and enshrines three gods who offer protection to sailors and bring prosperity to all who enter. Even though the shrine was founded so long ago, the buildings there are all less than twenty years old. To preserve their knowledge of the architecture and to insure that the skills are passed down through the generations, the buildings are torn down and rebuilt every twenty years on a rotating basis. The architects and builders have a chance to work on several buildings during their lifetimes, first as students, then as apprentices, and finally as masters.

Next, we visited Osaka Castle which sits high above the city. The bus dropped us off at the closest parking lot, but it was another 20 minute walk up to the castle through the gardens and by other buildings on the grounds. The detailed itineraries of the shore excursions offered by the ship, including this one, gave specific information about the time at each site, walking distance, total number of stairs, whether restrooms and shopping are available, if it's air conditioned, and what type of currency and credit cards are accepted. For this tour, I saw that it has 215 steps and a walking distance of 2100 yards. That sure seemed like a lot, but the walking was through a beautiful garden that distracted me the whole way, and the steps were broken into small sections of fifty or fewer as we climbed up to the entrance and inside the castle from floor to floor looking at the exhibits. Even with taking the elevator part way up, we still had over 200 steps to climb.

We had a nice tour through the city as we moved from place to place and back to the ship. When we returned after the tour, if was about 7:30. We had dinner in the restaurant but not at our usual table. The ship changed to "anytime dining" for that one night since so many people were out late visiting the sights of Osaka while they had the chance.

It was an early night for us. We have not had too much trouble adjusting to the time change. Japan is fifteen hours ahead of Mountain Daylight time. I see that the calendar on my camera has not adapted for the time change. It's close enough though.