Anyway, so we last left off with us finally flying to Japan. After a longer than necessary flight (Probably got stuck on the runway for an hour), we arrived Osaka at the Kansai Airport (关西机场）. But we still needed to get to the hotel, which would be another hour of travel. I was exhausted by the time I got to the hotel, so below is the directions on how to get to the hotel, and hopefully it'll be easier next time.
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| Randy, Curtis and our friends Eli and Finn on the JR Train |
The hotel we chose to stay at was Hotel Monterey Osaka: http://www.hotelmonterey.co.jp It was pretty nice, designed after the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. Well all I can say is that the hotel was very yellowish, just like the Schonbrunn. I expected a very small hotel room, but our triple room was spacious enough for us. The hotel was a little dated, but we paid around $200/night, and for the location I guess it was not bad. The hotel had an old fashioned elevator, and we stayed on the 13th floor, so it looked a little freaky when the hand reached 13.
Oh but I got ahead of myself. To get to the hotel was not easy. Lesson learned: print a map with the hotel on it next time.
After arriving at the Osaka station, we had to get out from the Sakurabashi Exit. We found the exit, but we could not find any escalators, so I had to drag all our heavy luggage up the stairs. And that was where the directions from the hotel stopped. Going straight seemed logical, so we went straight through a street of restaurants, called 梅三小路。After getting out from the other side of the restaurant street, take the first right and the first hotel on the left hand side is the Hearton Hotel. Keep walking, and the Hotel Monterey is next hotel.
Unfortunately my map of Osaka Station ended at the Hearton Hotel, so we wandered around the area for maybe 10 minutes before finding our hotel. The Hotel Monterey is actually just conveniently 5 minutes walk away from the JR and subway station, so we may stay there again in the future.
After check in, it was already 8pm. Having barely eaten anything, we gave up going to the Pokemon Store, and got dinner at 梅三小路. There were maybe 15 restaurants, all with delicious fake foods displays outside, and we finally decided to get tonkatsu. It was so good that Curtis would get tonkatsu for breakfast the following morning. Then I made the mistake of telling them that we need a variety in our meals. By the last day of our trip, I would be craving tonkatsu so bad, but the kids would tell me that "we've already had it and should not eat it again" and made us eat something else.
After dinner we took a walk around our neighborhood, Umeda (梅田）. It was Friday night, and the street was full of people going to little bars. Randy and Curtis went into the first arcade they have ever seen in Japan. Anyone who has been to Japan knows that the arcades are pretty crazy, where you can win anything from toys and giant boxes of Pockey sticks, to vacuum cleaners and GPS. The strangest thing we saw that night was a machine where you can win these cute fish. The fish were alive and swimming, and I'm not sure how they would feel if someone manages to grab them and drops them down the chute.
After watching some old guys battling on the dance dance revolution machine, we capped off the night after eating some crepes.
After arriving at the Osaka station, we had to get out from the Sakurabashi Exit. We found the exit, but we could not find any escalators, so I had to drag all our heavy luggage up the stairs. And that was where the directions from the hotel stopped. Going straight seemed logical, so we went straight through a street of restaurants, called 梅三小路。After getting out from the other side of the restaurant street, take the first right and the first hotel on the left hand side is the Hearton Hotel. Keep walking, and the Hotel Monterey is next hotel.
Unfortunately my map of Osaka Station ended at the Hearton Hotel, so we wandered around the area for maybe 10 minutes before finding our hotel. The Hotel Monterey is actually just conveniently 5 minutes walk away from the JR and subway station, so we may stay there again in the future.
After check in, it was already 8pm. Having barely eaten anything, we gave up going to the Pokemon Store, and got dinner at 梅三小路. There were maybe 15 restaurants, all with delicious fake foods displays outside, and we finally decided to get tonkatsu. It was so good that Curtis would get tonkatsu for breakfast the following morning. Then I made the mistake of telling them that we need a variety in our meals. By the last day of our trip, I would be craving tonkatsu so bad, but the kids would tell me that "we've already had it and should not eat it again" and made us eat something else.
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After dinner we took a walk around our neighborhood, Umeda (梅田）. It was Friday night, and the street was full of people going to little bars. Randy and Curtis went into the first arcade they have ever seen in Japan. Anyone who has been to Japan knows that the arcades are pretty crazy, where you can win anything from toys and giant boxes of Pockey sticks, to vacuum cleaners and GPS. The strangest thing we saw that night was a machine where you can win these cute fish. The fish were alive and swimming, and I'm not sure how they would feel if someone manages to grab them and drops them down the chute.
After watching some old guys battling on the dance dance revolution machine, we capped off the night after eating some crepes.
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| One guy is dancing on the machine, while another is just freestyling on the side. Pretty funny. |
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