After a few days in Aizu, the rest of my family arrived and we made our way to our first destination, Osaka. In the picture above we are on the train from the airport to Tokyo. On the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, you can see Mt. Fuji on a nice day, and so we were able to see the mountain for a few minutes.
After getting settled in our hotel in Osaka, one of the first places we went was Abeno Harukas, the tallest building in Osaka. From here we could see a lot of the city. The building had a bear mascot, and for a fee you could get a picture with it. We wondered who was willing to pay for something like this.
We then went on to pay for a picture with it and answered our own question.
This building also had bathrooms with very nice views.
Another day we visited Sumiyoshi taisha, an old Shinto shrine, before taking a train to Osaka Castle.
The grounds of Osaka Castle are massive. It took us a long time to walk from the entrance to the castle itself. Along the way we walked along long roads, up steep stairs, and beside two moats and walls. Along the way we took many pictures.
When we visited Osaka, it was too early for many of the flowers to bloom, but we could see the very first blossoms still on the trees.
In Osaka we saw more things. We walked along Dotonbori and saw the Glico man above, and we tried some Osaka foods like the Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki pictured below.
The next stop on our trip will be the ancient city of Kyoto.
