Our group was recovering from feeling ill, and folks didn’t want to miss Osaka. By late afternoon, we gathered and decidede ot take the Shinkansen to Osaka and hit the Castle and the Aquarium, finishing the night with Okonomiyaki, a local dish.
Planning a trip to Osaka requires careful mapping of the city. Here’s why: it can take an hour or more to go from place to place. We did some impromptu planning and then hit the train station late…we wouldn’t realize our mistake until we were sprinting through the train station to get on the LAST train…and then missing it.
Nevertheless, our trip into the city started at Osaka Castle, an impressive reconstruction of the Castle by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son in the 17th century. The grounds are massive and to do this visit right it takes hours; we did it in a little less time to make our way to the Aquarium across town.
The Osaka Aquarium is a marvel, and students loved visiting this massive facility. After seeing the fishes, we grabbed Okonomiyaki at Chibo in the heart of the city. I cannot say enough about how unique and wonderful this dish is…We ate our fill and then quickly realized that we needed to GO!
The excitement that builds when you start to recognize that in minutes, you might not be able to make it to the 40km trip to Kyoto rushes through your body. Combine that a a trip leader and, damn, things get weird.
We hopped on the train to Kyoto at the last minute, and I wondered if we would make it in time to get back to our houses? We arrived at Kyoto Station, headed to the Karasuma line which felt like a MILE away from the JR lines we just left. We walked/ran with purpose and literally jumped on the train to Karasuma Oike to change trains….WOULD WE MAKE IT???
No.
We missed the last train, and the station staff shooed us out of the station (saying shoo!), and we headed up the stairs, recognizing the long walk home.
The night was pleasant, and some of us were tired from a short/long day of walking. As we walked, some of us photographed night scenes as this city was still wide awake at 12:20 AM. We headed up the long hill to the houses. Crashed in bed, and smiled at a full day and an exciting end!
(Photos posted tomorrow!)
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