Trip to Osaka

After 5 days of being with the World Destination’s tour group, the Hubby and I finally ventured on our own and travelled 550 kilometers from Tokyo all the way to Osaka.  It took us just about 2 1/2 hours to get to Shin-Osaka Station.  I’m in love with Japan’s railway system by this time.  Do you know that they are so meticulously precise?  Our Shinkansen was set to leave around 9:43am and 10 seconds afer said time, the door closes and off it goes. Nice.   Wish we could develop the same value for time here.

We were fortunate enough to get a booking at Hotel Granvia Osaka, which was right inside the Osaka station. (This doesn’t sound weird at all if you realized that they have 5 grand malls inside the station plus a number of other fancy hotels)

This silly blogger thinks Osaka is THE shopping mecca & gastronomical zone in Japan.  It boasts of plentiful malls with cheap items even (who says everything is expensive in Japan).  And at night the city comes alive with colorful neon lights all around.

Taking our cue from Lonely Planets, we decided to catch the sight of Osaka Castle first.  It’s a train ride away from our hotel. The nice weather allowed us to walk all the way from the Nishinomaru garden to the castle grounds and finally to the keep itself.

Osaka castle was built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, which the Hubby and I will soon find out has built numerous tourist-worthy visitable castles/temples in Japan.  The inside of the castle has been converted into a museum and on the 8^th floor there’s even an observatory deck that showcases Osaka’s cityscape.  

Outside the Castle Ground, there's a time capsule for peace 
that is to be opened only at the start of every century.

Umeda Sky Building/ Floating Garden.  Ranked as the 4^th most visited site in Osaka, 46^th nationally, this building has an absolute impecable architectural details.  Hubby and I were marvelling all the eleborate elements that were featured in the building.  Although silly blogger probably has a different reason for loving the place, the Floating Garden is suitable for ahem ahem lovers and honeymooners *hee hee* what with the love seat and the sky lounge, it seriously is the perfect setting for a romantic rendevouz.