Day 2 - Katsuouji Temple, Abenos Harukas

We woke to another fine day and headed off to the buffet breakfast at 7am. Our plan was to head to Katsuouji Temple, the temple full of Daruma dolls and nice autumn leaves.

We left the hotel at 8am and walked to Namba station, then boarded a packed train heading for Minoh-Kayano station. The train emptied all the passengers, leaving a small handful for this last stop. However when we made our way to the bus station, we saw a huge line of people, now realising how popular this place is. We made it onto a very packed in second bus for the 25-minute journey costing 800yen.

There was a short line to enter the temple, where we were given a blank postcard, to find 6 stamp stations around the grounds in which to create the final image. The fall leaves were peak, and the sky was blue. It was a truly spectacular place with Daruma hidden and places all over the grounds. We had our fill of beauty and decided to make the first bus back down, leaving at 11:18. We were one of the first on, scored a seat, and were on our way back to Minoh-kayano station.

Here we had a brief stop at Mister Don't to eat a pokemon donut, some custard filled delight. We set a course for Osaka Castle. Once at the closest subway station, we hit up Family Mart for some food that we took to eat at the castle grounds. Here, we were approached by an elderly gentleman who proceeded to tell us how Europeans were the worst and destroyed Japan. Thankfully, after his tirade, he moved his speil onto the next group. We then walked up to see the castle from the outside, took a few photos, then headed off just after 2pm. Where we saw a lady walking her two pet turtles.

We took the subway (making use of our all-day passes) down to Tennoji and went to Abeno Harakus. We used our Fun in Kansai pass to gain entry to the 60th floor observatory 300m up. We quickly found an empty couch, of which the other 3 were filled. Taking up this spot, we whiled away an hour or two, taking in the sights and resting up.

Around 5 p.m., we left Tennoji and headed to Namba for dinner. Okonomiyaki was the choice. Once we settled on a place, we found it after a small search. The sign said it was a 90-minute wait. We waited about an hour, then had amazing okonomiyaki feed that stuffed us both, and drinks too for under $40. Finished up there and rolled out at 7pm.

A stroll through Dotombori where it was packed full of people on a Tuesday night. Like wall to wall people. We thenheaded for Namba parks to see their illumination of a waterfall. We went up 7 flights of stairs in the Namba Gardens section before asking a security guard who told us it was on level 2. So we eventually found it, and of course photographed it. So it was 8pm, and it was time to head back to the hotel, 15 minutes by subway, 18 mins on foot. Even though we were exhausted by now, we went on foot.

No day, no matter how full you feel, there's always room for Coolish. Luckily, the hotel has them in a vending machine, so we had our first Coolish of the trip. Time for bed. 20,000 steps and 15km yesterday... today, we did over 18,000 steps, 13.65km.Read more