In search of Cherry Blossom – Part Seven

One thing I haven’t talked about yet is the amount of bicycles here. Everyone rides. They are more likely to get on a bike than in a car. In fact, you’ll see “bike parks” more often than car parks and they’ll be full. A lot of the bikes aren’t even locked because that’s just the way they roll here.

The one thing I still can’t get used to is how the bikes will just whizz past you on the footpath. There is no right of way. There is no “keep left” or “keep right”. They will just come wherever they think they will fit and they go first. Walk at your own peril. I’m just so amazed that we haven’t seen an accident yet. Whatever the law is, it doesn’t matter, bikes rule and that’s that.

This morning I again walked down to Dotonbori. I really love being out first thing in the morning and now that the weather has warmed up it’s just so beautiful.

Hubby and I were debating whether to travel to another town by train again or just go to the Aquarium which is somewhere I really wanted to go. I couldn’t see the sense in being on the train for a couple of hours to travel somewhere when there were still things here we hadn’t seen. I couldn’t justify losing a minimum of four hours for a return trip to somewhere.

So off we went, bound for the Aquarium! I was pretty excited!!

We got off at Osakako Station and passed by signs for Legoworld.  We didn’t go in but we DID see this giraffe which was pretty cool… There’s also a huge Ferris Wheel here.

There were quite a lot of people, even given the fact that it was a Tuesday afternoon.

As soon as you walk in, you find yourself  walking through the aquarium with fish swimming above and alongside you. It’s pretty freaky!

And you follow a path that takes you through to different sections. Marine life from different areas of the globe. There is lots of information in English so that was good!

The penguins look so cute right!!

There were quite a few of these crabs in the tank and they just looked like huge ugly spiders!!! I was NOT a fan! I have to admit though, they may be ugly but they also look pretty magnificent.

The Jelly Fish area was pretty amazing!

We got to an area near the end where we were able to touch the fish (and sting rays) in the tank.  I did it too and it was so yucky slimy!!
They had a few warning signs up but I don’t know that I’d be comfortable letting young children just put their hands in the tanks

 

 

I did take tons more photos but don’t want to bore you all. We had a really good time in there and I’m glad we ended up going.

Next stop was Universal Studios!
Well, not Universal Studio’s itself but the Universal City walk next to it.
We found a free ferry to take us over which was handy because if we were going to go by train, Google Maps was telling us to allow over an hour!

The ferry ride was only a few minutes and if you look close enough at the pic on the left, you might see it on the left hand side of the picture.

The exit/entrance for Universal Studios looks out onto this walk and there are a lot of American Chains here.

I even got to sit on Forrest Gump’s bench!

We had a very late lunch at this Italian place. I’m pretty sure it’s a chain here. Hubby wasn’t happy with what he ordered (I tease him that he always orders the wrong thing) but I was pretty happy with mine!! Especially that Dori! Geez that stuff’s good!

By the time we left this area it was getting towards 6pm and we’d been walking for most of the day. Hubby really want to go to Cosmos square Station. I’m not sure why because I hadn’t seen what he was looking at for this area but I trusted him…

We got there, and it looked pretty barren. He led us to this “interesting” building. It seemed like there were a lot of Government Departments there… There was also an International Ferry station. He kept trying to build it up but I wasn’t fooled. The best thing I found there was a Daiso Store.

It was pretty light when we entered but a short time later it was dark. We took a few photos of this interesting area outside.

but there weren’t many people around and it just seemed like we shouldn’t be there. Nothing was happening..

I was so glad to be on the train back home…

And in case anyone doesn’t know, I’ll leave you with instructions on how to use a Western Toilet. Handy information.

 

Perth Day One

Well looky here we’re in Perth!
One thing I can say about hubby is that he does tend to spoil me once a year and this year is no different. With an impending big birthday, he’s arranged for a luxury trip to Perth, starting with a business class flight with Qantas.

I try to act like like this is a regular occurrence in front of the cabin crew but no matter how many times I’ve flown business (ok only once before) it still is such an incredible treat. Cabin Crew are just over lovely and my gosh all that champagne without the judgement! I almost didn’t want to get off the plane!

Hubby and I had been a bit snippy with each other all morning and that’s why it was a huge surprise when we’d been sitting on the plane for about ten minutes, one of the cabin crew asked if we were newlyweds! Wow. Well, we were holding hands… Not only are we not newlyweds, but we’ve been together for almost twenty years!

I had been to Perth a few times as a teenager but those times, I’d been driven across. As we walked through the airport to collect our luggage I made some remark about it to hubby. I said “Yeah I’ve been to Perth a couple of times but I’ve never seen the airport because we drove so this is interesting”
Hubby turned to me and said “Oh, so when you came here in 2013 with Esprit (my barbershop quartet) the pilot just parachuted you in straight to your hotel?”
Whoops… forgot about that trip! Guess I had seen the airport after all.

Our plan was to get to the hotel, store our luggage, then go walkabout through Perth CBD. We got to the hotel very early but the lovely staff said as our room was ready, we could go up there if we liked and even gave us an upgrade! Score!

Once we got ourselves settled we walked into the city and as hubby had said he wanted to get me a smart watch for my birthday, we headed straight for JB HiFi and bought me a FitBit Ionic. Do I love it? You bet!

Hubby’s coffee addiction dictated we found the perfect cafe’ and unfortunately he couldn’t find a Starbucks anywhere so he settled for The Coffee Club.

I found these sculptures outside.

This sculpture group commemorates the 175th Anniversary of Western Australia and symbolises the business people who have built the CBD

From top left
Dutch exploration, discovery, mapping and naming of Swan River – 1697
Anglo – Celtic settlement of Swan River – 1829
Discovery of Gold – 1885-95
Post World War II European immigration – 1945-55
The Millennium Man – 2001

We walked up and down the two malls and more than a few arcades, then headed towards the wharf area. We walked past the interesting Bell Tower and the love locks but didn’t go in there.

I was dying to visit The Lucky Shag again. What a great place that is! By twelve midday it was packed in there! And the weather was just so perfect for sitting around and having a casual drink.

Hubby said “Where to next” and I said “Jacobs Ladder!”
Lucky for both of us he didn’t know what that entailed or we might not have gone that way…

And after walking up the many many steps along with the fitness fanatics, we walked through Kings Park enjoying the beautiful sights. I hope we get to see the views at night at some point on this trip.

We decided to catch a bus rather than walk back and I took the fact that it took us back to Hay St Mall to mean that I needed to do more shopping. Hubby is being a very good hubby so far and walked along with me even though he was starting to get blisters. Yes, he’s a trooper.

When we got back to the hotel, we recharged our devices then bravely took a couple of the complimentary hotel bikes and cycled to and through Kings Park.
Hubby is a lycra wearing, speed demon on his bike and while I have ridden in the past, it’s been many years since and I wasn’t so confident at first. Hubby was so patient though and really it was so much fun and quite relaxing and I was even standing up on the pedals to go uphill by the end of our ride!

Although we had a great day today, we made one critical error. We did pack it, but we forgot to put on sun screen and hubby and I are both burnt quite badly. Funny how it happens before you even realise it! Definitely will not forget the sunscreen tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turning Japanese – Part Seven

Osaka awaited us this morning.
With full confidence we left our lovely apartment and walked to the train station.
We were going to see Osaka Castle
No breakfast included in this accomodation apart from what we choose to provide for ourselves and as we’d gone grocery shopping we had the luxury of having a few coffees before we left our apartment!

We went to the Castle and took in the wonderful and awe inspiring sights. I’ve added a couple of pictures for you to get an idea of what we were looking at.

We had picked a couple of things we wanted to do in Osaka and one of them was to visit this mall that apparently went for kilometres… We were going to take the Osaka Loop line but once we googled, we saw it was only a couple of kilometres away so we walked there.

It was pretty interesting!! Lots of little shops and little food places. My stomach was starting to growl as apart from the coffee, we hadn’t eaten anything.

 

After walking through the mall our hunger was building! We decided to put “food court” into google maps and go to the nearest one. That ended up being 2.5 kilometres away however once we got there, we saw it wasn’t what we consider a “food court” to be.
We were in the Hankyu building.
If you’re familiar with this building you may know that there isn’t a food court. There are plenty of restaurants in the basement level but not a food court as such – just a lot of restaurants – just as you’d see on the streets.
We went to the enquiry counter and they sent us to the 12th and 13th floor. They told us we’d find the “food court” there.
Once we got there we saw it wasn’t what we call a food court, and not only that, but these restaurants were definitely more hoity toity. Not what we were looking for in our walking clothes. But there were streams and streams of people lining up to go to them! There were so many people everywhere!!

So we went back down to the ground level and started walking back through the streets to find somewhere to have lunch. Disappointingly, some of the places we were interested in didn’t open until five. I’m not sure if that was because today is Saturday, or if that’s the way it always is.

We walked and walked and walked and finally fell into a place that had a picture of a sandwich roll on the window.
I think by this stage, I would have gone anywhere, even eaten octopus, just to be able to sit.

Very few people speak English here. They all say they speak a little, and they can get by with a few words but they can’t really communicate beyond a basic level. And that’s not a criticism!! Most people in Australia can only speak one language!
So hubby and I got a couple of “pizza’s” (similar to a sub or slice) and a premade sandwich.

The pizza was actually very good!! Now that could be because we were super tired and starving, having walked over eighteen kilometres at this point, but it was still very good and definitely hit the spot

The sandwich was ok. Very thin and no crusts!! I love my crusts! Never take off the crust people it’s the best part!!

 

Did you notice what is said on the sandwich?

How cute is that!

I wasn’t smiling until I actually read that message, but after, I was…

People here are just so courteous and nice. I wonder if I’m in some twilight zone. It just seems too perfect.

I made hubby walk all the way back to the apartment. Hubby and I decided to walk back to the apartment – all six kilometres, and before we got there, we stopped at the big supermarket near home and grabbed some treats AND a small bottle of Jim Beam (bargain price!) and a nice bottle of red for me.
Deeeeelicious and long overdue!

This evening, being creatures of habit and comfort, we headed back to that fabulous food court (staying well away from the place we’d gorged ourselves at yesterday) and ordered something different. Even when we’re handed an English menu, we still don’t know what we’re getting.
Throughout Tokyo and Osaka, we’ve seen street vendors and restaurants alike making these cute little balls. We didn’t know if they were savoury or sweet.
There was a vendor in the foodcourt that was making them so, being brave, we ordered a couple of dishes.
Even though the menu was English, it said “Takoyaki”. We don’t know what that is!
Later on, hubby googled it and we reaslied what they were. Octopus balls!!! We don’t normally eat seafood but I have to say they were soooo creamy and delicious! The only thing I could have done without was the barbeque tasting sauce that was on the top of one of our dishes.

And each serve had eight balls so they were pretty filling!
We both felt like dumplings though and the beauty of being in a food court is that you can choose different things.. so we ordered some dumplings and some rice from another vendor (and sat at another table so hopefully no one noticed)

The dumplings were nice but not as nice as others we’ve had. There wasn’t much filling in them but the taste was ok.
The rice was very full of flavour and crunchy!! Hubby and I had a little spat over them.
“But you said you didn’t want rice”
“I didn’t, till I knew you were getting some. How can I not eat it when you’re eating it in front of me”
“Because I wanted them. You said you didn’t”
“That was then, this is now, besides, you’re the one who always wants to share”
“And you don’t so get out of it. I got this for me”
Typical conversation between us really.

And to carry on with our bogan food theme today, we went to McDonalds to try to get a soft serve cone for dessert but they stop serving them after a certain time, so instead, we went to the convenience store and got something that kind of looked like a soft serve cone and it was delicious!! Vanilla and Coffee flavour and very creamy.

If these people didn’t all ride bikes incessantly, they’d be in trouble with all this creamy, highly processed and fatty foods!
I love it!