By the time we arrived in Osaka we were both shattered and Jonna was sleeping so I guess it's my fault that we totally missed our spot and ended up in Kobe. That's right....Kobe. Land of the massaged cows and the Yakuza. I've never laughed so much in my life. The guy on the bus announced "Osaka Station", then "Namba Station" and I figured that "Umeda" would be next. Turns out Osaka Station and Umeda station are right next to each other. So I'm sitting on the bus looking out the window and I see the aquarium and the port and we start going over the bridge and I'm thinking..."this isn't right". Then I start to see the signs for Kobe. Fortunately Jonna saw the funny side so all was well and we got to go to Kobe, somewhere I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to visit. And that was the first time we got lost that day.
The first half of the day was spent walking around trying to find places and giggling a lot when we found out that once again we'd gone in the wrong direction. I'm going to blame tiredness for my lack of direction, not uselessness. Eventually we found the hostel and left our bags there. Stopped in Mister Doughnut for breakfast. Totally unhealthy but very nice. Then we spent an hour walking around in circles before a guy pointed us in the direction of the nearest metro station.
We headed then to Amemura as I'd never been before and it was meant to be like a cooler version of Harajuku. It was more like a messed up nightmare. Everything was scattered around and we didn't really know what to do there so we left and went to Osaka-jo instead. Neither of us wanted to go in the castle itself so we just walked around the park, ate ginger ice cream, and did people watching. There were some people in the park dancing and some guys riding on strange skates which just looked like plates with wheels. It was really quite pleasant there, particularly as the weather at that point was very warm. While we were there the Spanish boys called to say they were going to the hostel to check in. We told them we'd be there at 16:00 but they seemed angry so we left the park before we'd finished looking around and came back to check in. Jonna took a shower and I went to the station to meet them as they said they were on their way. As it turns out they had gone to Osaka Castle AFTER we told them we were there so I basically stood outside the station for an hour waiting for them when they were in the castle enjoying themselves and we left so they wouldn't have to wait for us. Grr!
But anyway, we got them checked in and I washed up. They were going to Kyoto to go drinking that night (god knows why) and Jonna and I were going out for dinner. A guy had told us to go for Takoyaki but we didn't want to for we already had plans. Yes, we were going for bits on sticks. Kushiage I think it's called. Or Kushiyaki. Little bits of meat or fish or veg on a stick, fried at the table. I came here on the Essential Honshu trip in 2007 so I knew it was a great place to eat. We had to wait an hour for a table but we got to look around the Hep Five shopping centre while we waited. We looked at horrid wedding dresses, funky bags, expensive jewellery, giant omurice and a whole heap of other random things. Then back to the restaurant for food. I ate sooo much, it was fabulous. Felt sick as a dog afterwards but I loved it all the same.
By this point we were both totally exhausted so we came back to the hostel. I played on the computer for half an hour, Jonna studied. Then we sat and drew in the hostel guestbook and I studied Jonna's work for her. Then it was time for bed. We were going to Nara the next day so sleep was very much needed and I think it took me all of 10 seconds to fall asleep.
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