Travel Log: Legends of the Fall (Day 1)

Previous Day: Last Train to Kitahama

Destination: Japan

Duration: 8 Days 8 Nights (Nov 27~Dec 05, 2017)

Day 1: The Castle & the Whale

We started the day late since we were really tired & hubby was asking the hotel reception on where to get traveler simcard. Our plan was to get the “Osaka Kaiyu Ticket” for our commute & aquarium entrance for today and by sheer luck the ticket was available at our hotel reception. *thumbs up*

A Hotel Room with a View - Construction view! LOL!!!

Our 1^st destination was Osaka Castle and it was a 30minutes walk from the hotel. It was quite a long walk with sunshine which was surprising welcoming during a cold weather. During our walk, we stopped on some occasion to take random pictures of park in colorful leaves with awe since it was the 1^st time we were in a country during Fall. Tips: For traveler without wireless access outdoor, you may actually switch on google map in hotel (with wireless) to fix the route to your destination – then follow the google map screen to navigate. The map will still detect your position against the original fixed route even if you are offline.

Let's begin our journey!!!

Taken at a random park on the way.... it's FALL season! *Squee*

Drainage Cover

We couldn’t resist to stop in Family Mart to get some snack before finally arriving at the compound of the castle to get more snacks from the street stalls there. *facepalm* After a brief stop to indulge in our gluttony, we finally made our way to the entrance of the castle. The admission cost 600Yen but there was a discounted price of 540Yen when the Osaka Kaiyu Ticket was shown.

We are finally at the outskirt of the castle!

Nice Reflection =)

But still long way to get to the entrance.... But 1st, let's take more pictures of the colorful trees! =P

I guess we finally arrived at the main road for the entrance...

Walking towards the door but let's take picture on the bridge 1st. =P

This is merely the door to the courtyard...

Let's get some giant sausage 1st!

Sandwiches from Family Mart

There was 2 ways to get to the top of the castle – by lift or by stairs. Since there was a queue for the lift, we took off to the stairs which proved to be over-estimating our stamina. *facepalm* We were panting like crazy by 5^th floor whereas the castle had a total of 8 floors. Lil one was dumbfounded and asked us whether we were alright as if the 8 floor stairs was nothing to her. *bangwall* Anyway we finally made it to the top alive (albeit half alive). The top floor provided visitors the chance to go out from the building to admire the view from the top open-air.

Finally here is the main castle!!!

More pictures are obliged!!!

A View from the Top - Look at all the trees!!!

The direction where we entered the castle... 

Half Alive after the stairs...

We slowly walked down floor by floor to look at some of the exhibitions before walking to Morinomiya Station to take Chuo Line (towards Cosmo Square) to Osakako Station. Our “Osaka Kaiyu Ticket” covered for the entrance to the aquarium as well as all the subway fee. Before getting into the aquarium, we made a brief stop to have some quick bites from 7-11.

Found another angle to take picture... =P

These trees were the stars - lots of people were taking pictures there...

Let's take a selfie too!

Sammy meeting kukukai!

Starting another long walk to the train station...

Crossing over some parks

& trees with different colors

Drainage cover with color this time!

Finally we are at the train station!

Walking towards Osaka Aquarium direction... but found 7-11 instead!!!

Time to get some quick bite!

Obsessed with Bento!!! I love Japanese rice!!!

The Osaka Aquarium was the 2^nd largest aquarium in the world. I was not too impressed at the beginning but were slowly wowed by the gigantic tank in the middle of the aquarium which housed tons of enormous sea creatures.  The star of the aquarium was the whale and everyone was eager to take pictures of it. A piece of advice – the best spot to take the picture was not at the top of the tank, it was actually near the middle floor with less crowd and there were chairs for visitors to sit back and relax at the serenity of the environment.

The Ferris Wheel was in our view 1st

A Giant Giraffe!

Walking towards the Aquarium

OMG! What happen to that Whale?

Sammy got eaten!!!

Sammy making new friend!

Giant fish!

Even the Whale loves Sammy!

One of the good spot to admire the Whale...

Sammy! Be careful!!!

Lil one & the Whale

The sky was already dark by the time we left the aquarium – the sky got dark very early (at around 4.30pm) here. We got our ticket for Ferris Wheel (700Yen after discount from Osaka Kaiyu Ticket) and queued for the fully ‘transparent’ car (with no extra charges).  The fully ‘transparent’ car was not really that transparent so it wasn’t really scary. It was quite a nice ride to overlook the city.

HELP!!!!

Beautiful illumination of the Aquarium...

It's Christmas!

Of Course we need more light tunnel!

Inside the Ferris Wheel

Sammy admiring the view...

Well the car is kind of transparent.. =P

The Aquarium direction from the top...

We skipped Umeda sky building as it was getting late. Hubby was still obsessed with traveler sim card thus we made a stop at Namba Station to look for that shop that the hotel reception recommended. After 30 minutes of looking, apparently the shop was already closed even though it’s before the stated closing time of 8pm. *rolleyes*

Namba Station

We continued our journey to Shinsaibashi station at exit 4 to get Luke’s Lobster which was part of my itinerary. The lobster roll was really really YUMMY with scrumptious & generous portion of cold lobster meat wrapped with grilled garlic butter roll. We ended up getting a 2^nd roll for takeaway. Shinsaibaishi was full of people but we walked quickly towards Ichiran Ramen which was on someone’s bucket list. =D

Luke's Lobster!!!

The Menu

This is so YUMMY!!!

YUM YUM!!!

Malay words in Shinsaibashi!!!

Hubby says this is a must-take picture in Shinsaibashi - the Glico man!

Lots of people but we still need to get to Ichiran Ramen!

Giant Kani!

Giant Octopus!

Giant Fish? Hmm...

Surprisingly the Ichiran Ramen here had no queue (unlike the branch in Shinjuku which I queued for >1hour) and we quickly had our order. The ramen was excellent as usual and this time we tried the matcha beer as well. It was bitter at the beginning but gave a really nice aftertaste.

Here we are at Ichiran Ramen!

What is your preferences?

Ramen & Matcha Beer!

Additional Toppings

Most of the shops were closed by the time we finished the Ramen. What a bummer... We ended up taking the subway back to our hotel and called it a (long) day…

Long way back....

Daiwa Roynet at night...

Next Day: Universal Studio Japan