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Day 158 - 160 ( 9th August - 11th August)
Our train to Osaka left in the afternoon but we got to the station early so we could have a walk around as the station itself is a really interesting building. It was during this walk that a major flip flop related incident occurred. Whilst walking through the busy main hall of the station someone walking close behind me stood and the back of my flip flop. As my foot went forward in the classic walking motion, there was a large snapping sound…..it was clear something major had occurred. I looked down…it was bad…a double flip flop rupture. Both core flip flop straps had snapped….sad times. I was left to wander through the station with only one flip flop in a state of shock. Luckily I had a pair of back up flippies ready to hit the ground running.
As with Tokyo and Kyoto we stayed in the business area of Osaka, it was a pretty good location and had the bonus of being surrounded by great food options. Our particular favourite was a tempura place we visited on our first night, where we had a bowl of great cheap tempura with rice. We then went back to the hotel to watch the riots in England on BBC world in a state of disappointment and shock.
Our first full day in Osaka was taken up with a day trip to the ancient former Japanese capital city of Nara. Nara is made up a number of temples all situated in a deer park. The main attraction is a massive Buddha statue house in the largest wooden building in the world. By this stage we where fairly templed out after Nikko and Kyoto but fortunately Nara had enough to offer to keep us going. In particular for me the massive wooden temple and the huge Buddha statue were incredibly impressive. In particular some of the massive wooden carvings set in and around the temple were amazing.
Tina also enjoyed the temples but she was also particularly taken with the hundreds of deer running around the park. She became obsessed with the idea with feeding the deer in her classic half excited, half petrified way. Due to our lack of budget we couldn't afford the deer food on sale but we did have some chicken flavoured pretzels in our bag….it was an easy decision. Tina then set about feeding a pack of pretzels to the deer of Nara. As it turns out deer quite like chicken pretzels but it also became clear Tina is pretty scared of deer.
On our second day in Osaka we spent some time in the city itself. The highlight of which was visiting Osaka castle which is a reconstruction of it former sixteenth century self. The castle is set in a lovely park and looks very impressive as you approach. Inside the castle is a museum which tells of turbulent history of the castle and on the top floor is a viewing platform with great views across Osaka.
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Rachel Very funny blog entry Chris! The flip flop incident sounds truly traumatic, as does the deer feeding! :) You made me laugh ...