Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Japan Travels
To bed at 3am, and waking up before 7am this morning, the total number of hours I've slept since Wednesday morning is still in single figures. Sleep is overrated.
After the girls woke up, we all headed downstairs for the traditional complimentary Toyoko Inn breakfast of miso soup and rice balls. Except it wasn't miso soup, nor was there any rice to be seen. Oddly, breakfast consisted of cold potato, bacon and egg salad (like you would find at any Australian supermarket deli), scrambled eggs, salad, croissants, fresh bread rolls, coffee and juice. A really bizarre combination for breakfast, but considering I can't really stand rice and miso for breakfast I quite enjoyed it. I initially went down for rice and miso just so I could say I'd tried it.
After breakfast, Charlotte and I went for a walk to the 7-11 to get the girls a bit more breakfast because they didn't eat much of the Toyoko Inn offering. A beautiful day outside, 8:30am, sun shining, slight southerly breeze, and BLOODY HELL WAS IT COLD!!! Business men were everywhere rugged up like they were visiting the Arctic, and there I was, the one obvious, dumb, out of place Aussie tourist wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
At least Charlotte was rugged up warm, but this morning was the coldest I can remember feeling in, well, forever. I generally don't feel the cold. I got through the Australian winter without once wearing a jumper or jacket, and I assumed November in Japan would be similar. I'm an idiot.
We returned to the room, got ready, tidied up a little and headed out for a walk with the goal of exploring Namba and the surrounding areas, which is one of the most famous shopping, eating and people watching areas in all of Japan. And considering that today is a rest day to recuperate from all of the travel yesterday, a slow day with no concrete plans or timetables was a welcome reprieve.
First lesson for anyone considering a morning visit to Dotonbori, Shinsaibashisuji Arcade, or any of the other hundreds of shopping districts in and around Namba. Don't bother going until at least 11am. For at least the first hour or 2 of our walk today, virtually nothing was open, and the streets and shops were relatively deserted. Great for getting photographs of the popular landmarks uninterrupted, but that isnt really what these places are about.
The hustle and bustle is all part of the experience. Which is why we're going back tonight, but more on that later.
First stop this morning was a starbucks. I'd forgotten just how big a starbucks "venti" coffee is. It is huge. Bigger than huge, it is just stupid. Nobody could possibly want or need that much coffee. But after our buckets of coffee, and normal size hot chocolates for Charlotte and Angela, we continued on.
Stopping in at each interesting shop on the journey north, we reached Dotombori Street, which seems like the "main street" of this part of the city, if not the entire city of Osaka. We got some photos at each of the famous areas, including some cheesy touristy photos before continuing on.
As time went on, and morning turned to afternoon, more and more people began filling the streets, as if the majority of people sleep until noon in this part of the city. Some of the typical Japanese weirdness began to creep into the shopping experience, like insanely dressed shoppers obviously seeking attention, to unexplainable and seemingly purposeless characters, wandering around for no apparent reason.
The red and blue oversized head guys were a great example of this. Charlotte loved them, but they scared the absolute hell out of Angela. Eventually she gave up and posed for a photo before running away.
Some more shopping, a bit more aimless wandering and exploring, before returning home to the hotel for afternoon sleeps to recharge the batteries for tonight's night-time journey into the crowds (and cold).
That will be part 2.
After the girls woke up, we all headed downstairs for the traditional complimentary Toyoko Inn breakfast of miso soup and rice balls. Except it wasn't miso soup, nor was there any rice to be seen. Oddly, breakfast consisted of cold potato, bacon and egg salad (like you would find at any Australian supermarket deli), scrambled eggs, salad, croissants, fresh bread rolls, coffee and juice. A really bizarre combination for breakfast, but considering I can't really stand rice and miso for breakfast I quite enjoyed it. I initially went down for rice and miso just so I could say I'd tried it.
After breakfast, Charlotte and I went for a walk to the 7-11 to get the girls a bit more breakfast because they didn't eat much of the Toyoko Inn offering. A beautiful day outside, 8:30am, sun shining, slight southerly breeze, and BLOODY HELL WAS IT COLD!!! Business men were everywhere rugged up like they were visiting the Arctic, and there I was, the one obvious, dumb, out of place Aussie tourist wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
At least Charlotte was rugged up warm, but this morning was the coldest I can remember feeling in, well, forever. I generally don't feel the cold. I got through the Australian winter without once wearing a jumper or jacket, and I assumed November in Japan would be similar. I'm an idiot.
We returned to the room, got ready, tidied up a little and headed out for a walk with the goal of exploring Namba and the surrounding areas, which is one of the most famous shopping, eating and people watching areas in all of Japan. And considering that today is a rest day to recuperate from all of the travel yesterday, a slow day with no concrete plans or timetables was a welcome reprieve.
First lesson for anyone considering a morning visit to Dotonbori, Shinsaibashisuji Arcade, or any of the other hundreds of shopping districts in and around Namba. Don't bother going until at least 11am. For at least the first hour or 2 of our walk today, virtually nothing was open, and the streets and shops were relatively deserted. Great for getting photographs of the popular landmarks uninterrupted, but that isnt really what these places are about.
The hustle and bustle is all part of the experience. Which is why we're going back tonight, but more on that later.
First stop this morning was a starbucks. I'd forgotten just how big a starbucks "venti" coffee is. It is huge. Bigger than huge, it is just stupid. Nobody could possibly want or need that much coffee. But after our buckets of coffee, and normal size hot chocolates for Charlotte and Angela, we continued on.
Stopping in at each interesting shop on the journey north, we reached Dotombori Street, which seems like the "main street" of this part of the city, if not the entire city of Osaka. We got some photos at each of the famous areas, including some cheesy touristy photos before continuing on.
As time went on, and morning turned to afternoon, more and more people began filling the streets, as if the majority of people sleep until noon in this part of the city. Some of the typical Japanese weirdness began to creep into the shopping experience, like insanely dressed shoppers obviously seeking attention, to unexplainable and seemingly purposeless characters, wandering around for no apparent reason.
The red and blue oversized head guys were a great example of this. Charlotte loved them, but they scared the absolute hell out of Angela. Eventually she gave up and posed for a photo before running away.
Some more shopping, a bit more aimless wandering and exploring, before returning home to the hotel for afternoon sleeps to recharge the batteries for tonight's night-time journey into the crowds (and cold).
That will be part 2.
- comments