Japan Trip 2013- Osaka Castle
From the temple we then took another subway to head towards Osaka's next landmark - Osaka Castle! Since we wanted to utilise our Osaka 2 day pass we took the subway instead. Unfortunately the nearest subway station is a good 15 minute walk away and the summer heat as well as the strong and hot wind blowing against us wasn't do the journey any favours. :(
Osaka castle is strategically located in the middle of a park with walls surrounding the main area. It is after all a fortress for war in the olden Japanese days.
With the 2-day pass, we got to enter the castle free of charge. The tour of the castle starts at the very top and the visitors descend each floor which comprises of different exhibits, mostly showing the history of this grand castle and how the different Japanese armies dreamt of conquering this great castle. The bad news was that you have to climb all the way to the top as the elevator is only reserved for disabled people only.
At the top of the castle you can get a birds eye view of the surrounding Osaka city. The wind at the top is very strong as well and you can feel that your face is almost blown away. Beware if you have little kids though as they may tend to climb everywhere.
For souvenirs I got myself an Osaka Castle coin which can be found in a machine at the ground floor. Upon paying an extra fee you can also get your name engraved on the gold coin. In total the coin cost me 430 yen. Not too bad. The quality of the coin is very good but you may need to learn how to work with the computer and engraving system.
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| The coin should be golden in colour. White balance not working well here. |
To cool ourselves down we headed to the stalls just outside the castle for some desserts.
I bought a cone of peach ice cream at ¥300 and it was absolutely delicious. The peach flavouring was spot on and there were actual bits of peaches in the ice cream as well. For close to RM10 I expect nothing less though, haha. It's really hard to find tasty peach flavoured ice creams back in Malaysia. =/
I also tried their cantaloupe, couldn't remember the price. It was also really sweet and juicy but I think I could find a cheaper one back in Malaysia. Melons are generally pricey in Japan for some reason.
After our short break we then headed back to the park, whereby hundreds or thousands of visitors throng this place during the cherry blossom season to have picnics while enjoying the magnificent sakura trees. Too bad everything is green now.
Huge areas of grass for picnic-goers to lay their mats on. At that time there were only us haha. We managed to take some crazy photos and lie on the grass while 'enjoying' the summer sun. Bad idea though as most of us got really bad rashes on our hands. @@ Probably due to the bugs in the grass. The grasses were also meticulously maintained and it's really great to lie on. Ahhh wish I could be back here for Spring. I think I am mentioning this in every post LOL.
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