Sunday

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. What can I say about Sunday except that it went the way that the rest of the trip did. We saw some interesting things, but other things went wrong and were miserable. Why don’t I start from the beginning?

We got up at 11:00. It was our day to sleep late and we didn’t want to waste it! I like slow draggy mornings. They are just the BEST. So we got up at 11:00 and headed back to Umeda. Our goals for the day were to eat a tasty lunch, see Osaka Castle, and go from there.

In Umeda, we went looking around for lunch. There was this awesome place underneath the train tracks. In Japan, the trains are often elevated through cities so you can still maneuver around/through them. But to save space, buildings are built into the bottom of the tracks. So this place was just this maze of restaurants. Restaurants of every type! It was so cool. I might say, it was one of my favorite places we went. We decided to eat at a nifty ramen restaurant. It was a narrow restaurant. I mean, REALLY narrow. When you opened one of the doors (they were sliding doors and opened the entire length of the restaurant), your knees would touch a stool. In front of the stool was a thin counter. On the other side of the counter was the kitchen which was so narrow, two people couldn’t occupy the same place. It was nifty. I got pictures! I asked the guys if it was ok, they looked at me like I was a nut, but shrugged and let me. Nice people. Good ramen, too! The gyoza wasn’t so spiffy, but I am spoiled on wonderful homemade gyoza at the ramen shop by our apartment.

After lunch, we decided to stop back off at Hagen-Das for some more yummy ice cream. We needed to fortify ourselves before we went to see Osaka Castle. It didn’t take us long to eat the yummy treats, so we headed off to find the castle.

Well…the castle. As it happens, the castle is in the center of a huge park. It is also in the center of two very large moats and on a very elevated piece of land. It was a gorgeous building. By far, one of the prettiest things I had seen. So Chris and I put on a gan batte spirit and headed for the castle. Now remember, yesterday I hurt my legs and feet from walking so much and Chris wasn’t in that much better of a shape. So we walked for a good hour or so to get to the stupid castle. We crossed moats. We saw musicians. We gave someone 200 yen for gas (possibly, he could have been a clever bum though). We saw pigeons. We walked up and up and up. Then we got to the castle. And it was even MORE up than we thought. It was pretty though. So we went up again. Up the elevator this time, and then up 3 more flights of stairs. As Chris says, “It might as well have been the highest point in Osaka.”

The view from the top of the castle was really pretty. I have to admit, I wasn’t so impressed. I had already been to the top of the big building the day before. I had already seen the Osaka skyline from that building AND from Ferris wheel. So it was a bit of a big let down for me. The reason was, I was expecting a cool museum about the castle. I wanted to see pictures of what it might have looked like when it really served as a castle and not a museum. What I got, was a museum about a civil war in Japan. It was an important war, but I have studied that before. It was NOT what I thought it would be. I had been waiting and waiting to see the castle since I found out we had to go to Osaka for Chris’s thing. *sigh* Oh well. The pictures sure are pretty though. And how many times do I get to see a real live Japanese castle, even as remodeled as it was. I think I will go see Matsue castle and see how that one is. It’s not as impressive on the outside, but maybe it’s cooler on the inside.

Coming down for the castle was just beastly. My legs were ready to give out. When we were at the souvenir shop (we bought souvenir cards, really pretty…did I mention Chris and I have been collecting cool decks of cards? We are, can you tell?), my legs were shaking so badly, I almost couldn’t stand up. Remember, Susie is, and always will be, out of shape. Then we had to walk another 30 minutes to a train station and then wait another hour before we were able to get back to the hotel room. Wah! I was so pooped and hurting. My legs were in bad shape. Not bleeding, but close to it (even with better fitting pants on!).

I did manage to stop and get a bagel. You see, we don’t have bagels in Izumo. I haven’t eaten a bagel in more than a year! So we got bagels on our way in. And what a tasty bagel it was. Yum! Anyways, so we went back and pooped out. We napped for another few hours just to recuperate. Then, because my husband is so wonderful and loves me so much, Chris went back to Umeda, back to Subway, and got dinner. Then he brought it back to the hotel so I wouldn’t have to hurt my legs anymore. Isn’t he the best. Before anyone fusses at us eating Subway 2 nights in a row, let me ask you this, if you couldn’t eat turkey sandwiches for another year, wouldn’t you try to get as much turkey as possible? That’s what I thought. He also bought me a Snickers because he loves me so.

However, when he was gone, I flipped on the news and found out about Typhoon #13. Typhoon #13 rampaged through Kyushu (southern island) and was really beastly. Trains were toppled over (only one, but still!), shinkansen lines were shut down (again, only one, but still!), some people were missing and others found dead, mudslides, sink holes. Havoc was definitely wrought on southern Japan. The problem being, Typhoon #13 was getting ready to blow over Shimane! That’s our prefecture! The news was predicting dire things. It wasn’t looking good for our home. It was looking even worse about getting home with no problems.

But, what can you do? Chris came back and we munched on sandwiches, ate Snickers, played a rousing game of UpWords, and watched the last half of “The Fast and the Furious”. All in all, despite the too much walking, it was a nice way to end the day. We went to bed early-ish to make sure we could get up the next day.