Posted by Jess
25 October 2010
I think the motto for the week was "No Rest during Kiki-fest" and the weekend was no exception. On Friday we packed up and headed out of town for a little tour outside of Tokyo. We headed to Tokyo station with bags packed to catch the Shinkasen (express train) to Osaka. The bullet train we took was called the Nozomi and it went from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka with just a few stops in between. The trip takes about 2 1/2 hours and covers 550km. Doing the math that means it goes about 220 km (130 miles) per hour. But we did make stops, so I guess I would say it goes about 150 miles per hour if you take out the time for stops. There are bullet trains that go faster, but this one seemed fast enough to us. The trains leave on this route about every half hour and we rolled into Shin-Osaka terminal around 11:30am.
The first thing we did upon arrival is headed to our hotel via taxi. We were staying at the Sheraton Miyako, one of the few hotels that would have a room for 3 adults (let alone two kids!). When we got there and asked for a crib too they looked at me like I was crazy. The hotel was very nice, but further from the station than I anticipated. Here's a shot of our room - not a lot of floor space once we were all in it - that's for sure!
After very quickly settling in, we headed out again. We grabbed lunch at the ever exotic KFC across the street. While the hotel is right above a train station, we found the subway in Osaka to be very confusing and not English friendly. It intimidated us and we let it win. So it would be a weekend of taxis. We grabbed a taxi after lunch and headed to the Osaka Aquarium.
The Osaka aquarium was one of the big highlights in the travel books for things to do with kids in Osaka. The aquarium is right on the bay near a little shopping plaza and has a good view. You enter on the 2nd level or so and then take the escalator all the way up to the 8th floor. There is a first area with river otters, fish and then some areas with penguins, seals and small dolphins. Then it becomes just about 12 big tanks that go all the way down to the first floor with different themes and you wind your way down. The aquarium has some cool things that we haven't seen in others (and we've been to quite a few!), like Whale Sharks, Giant Mobulas and Spider Crabs.
And at the end - jellyfish!
Its hard to describe how massive the whale shark and mobula were. The mobula in that picture had a wingspan much bigger than my arms - it was probably 8-10 ft long. And you don't see a whale shark everyday, let alone two. So the tanks were huge. And probably good that it went down 8 floors to give the animals as much room as possible to swim. However for those of us viewing, you basically saw the same thing for an hour and a half or so. The view didn't really change much from top to bottom. I guess for 2000 Yen a person (this aquarium was pricey!), we were expecting a little bit more. But it wasn't busy and the girls liked it so I guess that's all that matters.
We also went to the special exhibition area which just had some displays and then a shallow pool where you could touch sting rays. For those that know the Sea World sagas of Ella and the sting rays, it was still a no go here. But she was all about having Abby try it. Classic Ella. So we did.
After the aquarium we headed to the little shopping mall area next door. The literature I read had said this area was full of ethnic choices, representing the world exhibition in the 60s, restaurants around for 40 years, but it was a mall and a bad one at that. We looked around a bit and then headed to a family restaurant that looked like it had things for the kids. It was like Japanese Denny's. Oh well!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for an early night - after all, we were all still recovering from Disney the day before and Saturday was set to be a very big day! The taxi was a little difficult to find. In fact to us, Osaka seemed really empty. This is a town of 2.6 million people and we saw 1 taxi on a Friday night. Even when we rode back through the main part of town, it wasn't very busy either. It was strange and a bit eerie to me...I guess when you're at tourist destinations though, empty is a blessing. More on that in tomorrow's post!
Kanpai!
Jess
25 October 2010
I think the motto for the week was "No Rest during Kiki-fest" and the weekend was no exception. On Friday we packed up and headed out of town for a little tour outside of Tokyo. We headed to Tokyo station with bags packed to catch the Shinkasen (express train) to Osaka. The bullet train we took was called the Nozomi and it went from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka with just a few stops in between. The trip takes about 2 1/2 hours and covers 550km. Doing the math that means it goes about 220 km (130 miles) per hour. But we did make stops, so I guess I would say it goes about 150 miles per hour if you take out the time for stops. There are bullet trains that go faster, but this one seemed fast enough to us. The trains leave on this route about every half hour and we rolled into Shin-Osaka terminal around 11:30am.
The first thing we did upon arrival is headed to our hotel via taxi. We were staying at the Sheraton Miyako, one of the few hotels that would have a room for 3 adults (let alone two kids!). When we got there and asked for a crib too they looked at me like I was crazy. The hotel was very nice, but further from the station than I anticipated. Here's a shot of our room - not a lot of floor space once we were all in it - that's for sure!
After very quickly settling in, we headed out again. We grabbed lunch at the ever exotic KFC across the street. While the hotel is right above a train station, we found the subway in Osaka to be very confusing and not English friendly. It intimidated us and we let it win. So it would be a weekend of taxis. We grabbed a taxi after lunch and headed to the Osaka Aquarium.
The Osaka aquarium was one of the big highlights in the travel books for things to do with kids in Osaka. The aquarium is right on the bay near a little shopping plaza and has a good view. You enter on the 2nd level or so and then take the escalator all the way up to the 8th floor. There is a first area with river otters, fish and then some areas with penguins, seals and small dolphins. Then it becomes just about 12 big tanks that go all the way down to the first floor with different themes and you wind your way down. The aquarium has some cool things that we haven't seen in others (and we've been to quite a few!), like Whale Sharks, Giant Mobulas and Spider Crabs.
And at the end - jellyfish!
Its hard to describe how massive the whale shark and mobula were. The mobula in that picture had a wingspan much bigger than my arms - it was probably 8-10 ft long. And you don't see a whale shark everyday, let alone two. So the tanks were huge. And probably good that it went down 8 floors to give the animals as much room as possible to swim. However for those of us viewing, you basically saw the same thing for an hour and a half or so. The view didn't really change much from top to bottom. I guess for 2000 Yen a person (this aquarium was pricey!), we were expecting a little bit more. But it wasn't busy and the girls liked it so I guess that's all that matters.
We also went to the special exhibition area which just had some displays and then a shallow pool where you could touch sting rays. For those that know the Sea World sagas of Ella and the sting rays, it was still a no go here. But she was all about having Abby try it. Classic Ella. So we did.
After the aquarium we headed to the little shopping mall area next door. The literature I read had said this area was full of ethnic choices, representing the world exhibition in the 60s, restaurants around for 40 years, but it was a mall and a bad one at that. We looked around a bit and then headed to a family restaurant that looked like it had things for the kids. It was like Japanese Denny's. Oh well!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for an early night - after all, we were all still recovering from Disney the day before and Saturday was set to be a very big day! The taxi was a little difficult to find. In fact to us, Osaka seemed really empty. This is a town of 2.6 million people and we saw 1 taxi on a Friday night. Even when we rode back through the main part of town, it wasn't very busy either. It was strange and a bit eerie to me...I guess when you're at tourist destinations though, empty is a blessing. More on that in tomorrow's post!
Kanpai!
Jess
7:01 AM |
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