Real Time – Thursday July 15 at 6:35ish
We got seriously rained out Wednesday. Before breakfast it seemed like a good idea to go to Osaka. I figured out how to buy train tickets. We hopped on the correct train and 30 minutes later were in Osaka. After much looking around we found the Information Center. And purchased $20 subway pass and a book of admission tickets to about 20 attractions.
Teenage person HAD to visit the Pokémon store. So, that was our first stop. Old person simply sat down on the floor of the store and worked very hard at not saying “I am spending enough money to pay for 4 years of college for 3 students at my alma mater – and we are spending our time in a juvenile video game character store?”
Old person understands that teenage person is only interested in Japan as it relates to video games or comic books.
Eventually, we made it out of the Pokémon store and headed out to Osaka Castle. That was when the monsoon started. I should have brought my Tevas! I was drenched down to my under drawers.
We still went to the Osaka Castle. As far as castles go – it is sort of so-so. Actually, it is a 1930’s reconstruction. In Japan as in the US during the 1930’s historic reconstruction was more reconstruction than historic. Teenage person insisted that she didn’t need to read the narratives – we are inside now – because she knew ALL about the castle from a video game and was only interest in anything she already knew about from said video game.
After the Castle, the monsoon had slackened but we were still very wet. So, we bagged up our visit to Osaka. I figured out how to buy tickets back to Kyoto and we had a very expensive visit to the Pokémon store and Osaka Castle.
When we got back to our room – we discovered that out room key – like the rest of us – was soaked. Another trip down to the lobby for replacements.
Food wise, we had another super breakfast at our hotel this morning. Today, I noticed that they have ice cream on the breakfast buffet line. And, we got take out salads for dinner.
Must get off line now – the teenage person has been patiently waiting for 15 minutes to get back online.