Day 12

Greetings fellow penguin followers! After someone (*cough cough Danny*) doing heavy elbow lifting at Pure Osaka nightclub last night/early this morning, it is I (Sinéad) who will be filling you in on today’s semi-solo travelling adventures 😊

After a brutal start to both our mornings (note to self.. don’t have beer after whiskey!) which saw Danny fall subsequently ill with a migraine, I decided to venture off for the day while he rested up (and thankfully was feeling better by dinner time!)

It was my first time exploring in a country that didn’t speak a lot of English, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience (thanks to stable Data). I headed out from the hotel around 13:30 and made my way to a famous fluffy pancake restaurant about 30 minutes away on foot (picture for context) and needless to say they lived up to their name! 🤩 (I want Danny to experience their jiggly ness and hopefully we can make it before our train to Tokyo tomorrow). En route I saw a gorgeous rose garden and even cuter turtles by the river bank 🥰.

I then decided, since it was such a lovely day, to do a Dotonbori river cruise which took about an hour to walk to from the pancake place. En route, I stumbled across the 5th Avenue of Osaka with numerous high-end fashion brands, and high-speed super car displays (the Lamborghini the most impressive 🤩). The fact that there were queues out the door for Louis Vuitton and Rolex says it all: people have money to burn over here!

Upon arriving at what I thought was the right Don Quijote store (think Poundland mixed with Boots and Harvey Nichols) to buy the tickets along the river, it turned out there were two (with Google Maps not being very helpful with which direction to go). Thankfully I saw the cruise sailing by and decided to walk further along by the river esplanade and eventually saw the ticket booth. The hustle and bustle about this place was incredible, with street vendors galore lined up along the glistening rivers’ waters. The cruise took about 20 mins in total going underneath 9 bridges in total, and consisted of waving at passer-by’s, learning about some of the local Osaka cuisine (Okonomiyaki) and a local Osaka chant (no clue what was being said but I went along with it). The Glico man, which you can see in the photos, is apparently a popular photo opportunity, which is still a mystery to me but hey! When in Osaka 🇯🇵.

Unfortunately Danny still wasn’t feeling great after the cruise so I decided to venture back to the mental store of Don Quijote and went a bit nuts with souvenir shopping! I’ve never seen so many different types of sweets, chocolates and crisps in my life. A unique flavour I came across was a matcha Kit Kat which I look forward to trying when we get back to Scotland with a nice cup of tea 😊 After my little shopping spree, I decided to go out of my comfort zone and went on the worlds first oval ferris wheel (I was all smiles before I actually realised what I was getting myself into). It was well worth the view from the top (despite one too many creaking noises but I said my prayers 😂).

Dusk was setting as I was finishing up in Dotonbori and I headed back to the hotel to meet Danny before heading off for a lovely Indian meal in the nearby area. For a set dinner including a drink, starter, main, and x2 sundries, it was a bargain all for £8 each. En route we stumbled across a place where all the customers shoes were lined up by their tables. We believe this is a custom when sitting on the floor in a restaurant, and was a unique thing to see. We then decided to go for a post-dinner walk along by the river (so peaceful and felt very safe) before swinging back to the hotel (pun intended 😉).

To finish off the night, Curly (my oldest toy) and Yaki (Danny’s little Yak) were introduced to the latest snuggly toys: Chip and Dale, and Ollie Otterton 😊 After another gruelling 26k steps, it is safe to say a solid nights sleep lies ahead (Danny is already ahead of me as I’m writing this).

That’s all for now fellow penguin followers, Danny will be back for the final travel updates on our Japan adventure tomorrow 🇯🇵 Oíche Mhaith agus slán go fóill 😊Leer más