Osaka (Part 1)

Liz and I travelled to Osaka by bullet train for a few days last week. We got in late Wednesday night and it started snowing heavily Thursday... so that ruined my sightseeing a bit. I ended up wandering around all day Friday and Saturday while Liz was at her shows. I'm pretty sure I saw every part of Osaka. It's the third biggest city in Japan and known for its friendly people and delicious food. We stayed at the Hearton Hotel and it was fairly nice. Japanese hotels provide large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash instead of those tiny things in American hotels. They also provide tooth brushes, mini combs, and thin robes. Each room has a doorbell called a chime and the peepholes are the same hight as my belly button. This hotel only provides one key per room, and the key must be in a holder near the door in order to turn on the electricity in the room. Bizarre. The one key thing was a big inconvenience for Liz and me, but we worked it out. It basically just meant I had to be out of the hotel around 11 and couldn't come back until 7 ish. Forced sightseeing wasn't the worst thing that could have come out of that whole situation. Here are a few pics of the sweet bullet train experience and the strangely lunch-like breakfast I had at the hotel...

Ha! Read this awesome attempt at english translation. The pirrow and erectricity are especially amusing.

The Japanese don't do breakfast like we do at all. Mostly breakfast is exactly what every other meal contains: rice, salad, tomatoes, tuna, and egg in some form. It wasn't bad though, just different.

Unfortunately for my back, the beds were no better than sleeping on the hard ground and the pillows were filled with rocks. It was definitely the hardest, most annoying mattress I've ever slept on.

Friday (Valentine's Day)

While couples across the country were cuddling up, I took myself on a date to Osaka aquarium! It's supposedly the best aquarium in Japan and one of the biggest in the world. I had high expectations going into this adventure and they were definitely met by this amazing place! On the way to the aquarium, I was slightly discouraged by the sleety rain/snow mixture of wetness that was coming down on me. In a moment you will see my face as I tried to deal with soaked socks. I still say it was all worth it in the end.

That better not fall on me.

I can see the aquarium!

Once inside, I was bombarded by a plethora of exotic aquatic life. Some of the exhibits even had land animals like little monkeys and a capybara. Of course I rented an english audio guide to get the full experience. The gigantic deep sea tank was probably the best part of the tour, but all of the exhibits were entertaining . The animals seemed engaged and curious and I felt really good about the care and maintenance of the place. Since I was stung by a sting ray, I felt a special connection with the giant sting rays in the deep sea tank. I literally sat for at least an hour in front of the four story tank, mesmerized by all of the diversity. The whale shark was a special treat. Whale sharks are about 12m long on average, six times larger than the average male. Great whites only grow to be about 8m, so that gives you a pretty good idea about the size of this tank. I also really enjoyed the sea lions and the jellyfish. Every explanatory placard in the jellyfish area read "If you touch the tentacles, you will hurt." Ha! I really get a kick out of the way english phrases are translated here if you couldn't already tell. Here are a bunch of pictures of all the awesome animals I saw. I may have tried to get a little creative sometimes...

 Kawaii!! (this means cute in Japanese)

Does anyone want to try to explain this?

 Aquarium selfie! (I tried and failed to get the sea turtle in there with me...)

Whale shark!

This is where things get a little interesting...

He's coming to finish what he started...

Alright so now I'm done being a drama queen.... those king crabs are creepy though.

Even the sharks have a date on Valentine's day! Look at that PDA. Unacceptable.

How awesome is this dude!! He might actually be my favorite...

I thought about buying this hat just because it's so ridiculous. Ethan would probably wear it.

Here's the view from outside.

I still had some time to kill after the aquarium, so I took the subway back to the hotel and wandered around the area. I ended up finding a huge mall with a giant red Ferris wheel perched on top. Of course I had to try out the Ferris wheel because it went too well with my solo date night theme. It was also a great opportunity to see the city from a new angle. 

After the ride, I wandered around the mall. It was seven floors of chaos, but I had fun people watching and milling about. They had an entire floor of discounted merchandise so of course I bought myself a cute little red backpack. Eventually it was time to pick up Liz after her show for dinner. We just ate at the hotel and chatted before bed. Saturday was supposed to be more of the same, so I planned another sightseeing adventure. The next post will tell you all about it!