mybigadventures.com

We only had a short trip to Osaka staying just 3 nights although we'll be back for a night before flying home. It was pretty straightforward to get to from Kyoto taking only 30 minutes by train and so on our first day here we found ourselves with almost a full afternoon having got an early train and checked in by lunch time. We spent the first afternoon visiting the castle which was a short metro ride away. The castle has been burnt down a few times in the past but dates from 1583 originally. Inside there's a museum spanning over 8 floors with a viewing platform around the top offering fantastic views of the surrounding area. We finished off the day with another view this time from the Umeda sky tower which again was easy to access by the metro. We stayed for sunset and took a few night photos but the heat had turned it into quite a hazy evening so you couldn't quite see as far as you might on a clearer day. 

On our second day we decided to visit what is apparently Osaka's top attraction - the aquarium. It was a good aquarium with a decent range of sea creatures and a huge tank through the middle of the building that you gradually worked your way around. They had a special exhibit to coincide with the Finding Dory film and had some of the fish from the film in smaller tanks. They also had a fantastic range of deep sea creatures and some brilliant jelly fish. The aquarium is beside a large complex which amongst other things housed Legoland; there was a full size Lego giraffe outside but we decided to give it a miss. There was also one of Japan's largest Ferris wheels which we decided to visit the next day. We had lunch at the Luna café which is very close to the aquarium. It's run by a very friendly Australian and serves a range of Western food including cottage pie - we opted for a pizza which was very nice but very filling. Decided to have a rest back at the hotel before heading back out to take a few night shots. 

On the last day we visited the Shitennoji temple which has a five storied pagoda that you can climb up. It was very hot and the pagoda felt even warmer so we didn't stay up there long. It was a nice temple but there was quite a bit of landscaping going in and it looked a bit like they were ramping up for some sort of event. Afterwards we went back to the same place as the aquarium to ride the Tempozan Ferris wheel. You could queue for a totally transparent car on the wheel or get straight on. We decided to get straight on as didn't think it was worth the wait. We'd read some reviews that had suggested the same thing and it was going to be about an hour to wait otherwise. The cars were air conditioned which was amazing and offered fantastic views of the surrounding bay area. You could see Universal Studios across the port and inland flashes of lightning over Osaka which was pretty awesome. We had lunch in the nearby complex and browsed in some of the shops. They also had a small petting zoo type place in there with animals ranging from kangaroo's, a pig and several large tortoise, to rabbits, dogs and a llama; a little odd but pretty popular, we gave it a miss. We headed back out in the evening to see some of the lights in the nearby Dotonbori district which was only a short walk from the hotel. There were paper lanterns lining the river and the usual array of bright lights. There was lots to see with large 3d models on the outsides of restaurants. It was pretty busy with lots of people out for meals and drinks but a good atmosphere.

That's all for Osaka, next stop Hiroshima.

Our train wasn't until 11.20 so we didn't have to get up too early. We packed up and got the metro just after 10, arriving at the station in plenty of time. We decided to grab something to eat at the Pret in the station, sharing a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and some fruit (it's been a while). The train journey itself was pretty quick taking just a couple of hours and arriving about 10 minutes early in Washington. We caught the metro to the hotel, we had to pay $2 each for a travel card and then calculate the cost of the journey on the journey planner and add that to the cards costing $4 in total each. 

We found the hotel easily and managed to check-in straight away. Had a a bit of a break in the hotel to cool down before heading back out to explore. We walked down to the National Mall which is about a 20 minute walk away. It was really hot and humid, so we tried to stick to the shade. We walked along the mall to the Washington monument which isn't covered in scaffolding this time, but is still closed for restoration, and then continued on towards the White House. It felt a bit further than I remembered and you now have to stand much further back than the last time we were here. We stayed for a while to take some photos and then sat on a bench back along the path, taking pictures of some the birds on the Elipse area behind us. 

Headed back towards the hotel just before 7, grabbing some tea on the way back and then going to a nearby Safeway to get a few bits before finally making backaround 9. Put some washing on in the hotel laundry which happens to be a few doors down from the room. Happy days!

I started off my birthday by opening my cards. I had opened one late last night, from my bean, and he had drawn a picture of a horse and carriage – one of today’s birthday activities. I had a lovely little Scottie dog brooch from mum and dad and some spending money from Rhi and Rachel. Slothed about for a bit before getting showered and dressed. We left the hotel at about midday.

We went to Penn Station to get the subway, buying some breakfast at a cafe. I bought a lemon and poppy seed muffin and Ben got a half-dipped cookie, and we took them with this. We got on the ‘A’ line – the express, as it turned out. It went to 59th Street and we are expecting to get off at 72nd, however, the train hurtled on to 125th without stopping – just about 50 blocks too far! We then had to get the ‘C’ local line back. So that was an exciting start!

Eventually got off at 72nd. This took us into Central Park, by the lake, as our first birthday activity was ‘messing about on the lake’ in a rowing boat! Walked through Strawberry Fields, where there is a tribute to the Beatles – a stone circle on the floor with ‘Imagine’ engraved in the middle. Apparently, Yoko Ono’s apartment overlooks this part of the park and she contributed to its landscaping. Strawberry Fields is a ‘quiet’ zone, so it was quite peaceful walking through. From there we walked around the lake, trying to find the boathouse. It turned out we were going slightly in the wrong direction, so we had to walk back and round.

Made it to the boathouse, and join the shortish queue for the boats. We had to queue for about 10 minutes and then paid ($12 an hour and a $20 deposit) before we were in the boat, and we were off!

Ben did the rowing, so I was the official photographer and ‘crash averter’. We were just rowing along, when Ben spotted what he thought was a turtle on a tree root, sticking out of the water. We went closer and it turned out to actually be a turtle! A real turtle! In the wild! Awesome. I took lots of photos. We then saw a few more turtles as we made our way around the lake. We also got a bit wet – there was a mini-island which had a water spray on it, and it got us on our way round! As we rowed, we saw more turtles and we explored the lake thoroughly, even nearly getting grounded twice! We also managed to see a few key sites from the boat – the Bethesda Fountain, one of the biggest fountains in the Park. We also stopped by the bank to listen to a busker, who was entertaining the crowd on the grass. He did quite a range of songs and even got another boat actively involved as they did the drum solo on their boat. There was also a wedding taking place so the busker performed an impromptu first dance for them, which was really sweet.

We were getting close to our time, so Ben started to do super-speedy rowing back to the boathouse. We very nearly had a collision with a gondola – we were both going in the same direction and, as it was near the boathouse, there were loads of other boats wiggling all over the place and often veering out of control! But we made it back safely – a little late, so we paid an extra $3 for the extra 15 min we had. Not exactly breaking the bank!

From the boats, we went to find a horse and carriage for a ride. We had seen some earlier, but there didn’t seem to be any available, so we strolled down to 59th Street where they congregated, according to a helpful lady.

As we walked, we had a lollipop each from a stand. The park was really busy and there were also a couple of baseball games going on. People were sunbathing and playing frisbee – a typical day in Central Park!

We made it to 59th Street by about 4:30 PM and enquired about prices for the horse and carriage rides. There were two options – a long ride for about $100, plus tip ($120) or a short ride for $50, plus tip ($60). Obviously, they kept trying to sell the long ride by telling us all about the sights we’d see – but we’d already seen them by walking around, so we stuck to the short ride. It was more the experience that we wanted anyway, as I’d never been on one before. It lasted about 20 min and the driver told us a few bits about the places around us. It was very enjoyable and the horse made very satisfying clippy-cloppy noises!From there, we headed for the subway, to go back to the hotel to change before dinner. Ben had made a reservation at a place called ‘Robert’ in the Museum of Art and Design, which has magnificent views over Central Park. He had booked it a month ago to secure a window table.

Having showered and changed, we headed back to the subway at about 6:45 PM, arriving near the restaurant by 7:10 PM. We had a bit of time before our table at 7:30 PM so we wandered in the Park for a while. When we did go up to the restaurant, we were shown to our window table, with lovely views over Central Park and the surrounding area. We overlooked Columbus Circle and it gradually dawned on us that it was a memorial to Christopher Columbus.

We had iced water while we perused the menu and then I had an Olmsted cocktail – Hendricks gin, with sprigs of rosemary and thyme - while Ben had a Heineken. We were then bought a bread basket, with some warm mini breads – a rosemary one, a white one and a rye one. We were then brought small portions of shrimp cocktail, ‘compliments of the chef’ – a very refreshing, fresh tomato and pepper-based sauce with prawn pieces. We then shared an appetiser of burrata (a very soft mozzarella-type cheese) with big chunks of tomato, baby figs and balsamic dressing. As the main, I had roasted duck breast with cherries and a really nice fruit and wine jus. I had mashed potatoes as a side – and it was good mashed potato – and we shared sauteed ‘snow peas’ (mangetout). Ben had a pork chop, that seemed to be as big as his head, with red pepper mash and a mango garnish. It was all absolutely delicious. It made a great change from burgers, chips and pizza. In celebration of this (and also my birthday!) we decided to go all out, and have dessert too – so, in keeping with the cherry theme, I had cherry clafouti with ricotta ice-cream and Ben had a scoop of cherry, and candied walnut ice-cream (they didn’t have his favourite chocolate). Finally, by way of a fifth course, I suppose, I was presented with some little blueberry shortbread biscuits, with a candle and ‘happy birthday’ inscribed in chocolate on one side. It was really sweet and they have a good pastry chef as the biscuits were lovely. $190 later, we were a lot fuller, our wallets were a lot lighter, and it was probably the best meal of the trip yet!

To walk it off a bit, we walked in the park for a while. It was very quiet – almost eerie in parts – and Ben took quite a few pictures of the skyline from amongst the trees, capturing the shadows and the lights. From there, we went catch the subway home.