This trip has been in the works for the last 18 months and we were beyond excited to actually go. With next to no sleep, a nearly missed connection in Dallas due to a 2 hour flight delay, and 15 hours worth of flights, we got to Osaka on Monday afternoon. It is a 10 hour ahead time difference from Illinois and we felt every bit of it. We were so tired that we got food at a 7-11 next door and crashed hard.

Day 2 Osaka

We were wide awake at 5 am but feeling good. We didn’t have to meet up until 9 so we decided to explore a little bit. That turned into walking around to the tune of 5 thousand steps. The city is beautiful but not exactly awake at that time but it was nice to see it without the hustle and bustle. We went a grocery store in a market area that had the most gorgeous produce, meats, seafood. Very, very sad to not have any way of cooking it for ourselves. It’s going to make grocery shopping in my small town really disapointing, boo. Every where you look in Japan are vending machines and it is so much fun. We had fresh squeezed orange juice that we watched get made that was the best orange Juice this Florida girl has ever had.

Once we met up with everyone, we got our day started with our first Bhuddist shrine (Nambayaska Shrine). I got a temple book called a Goshuin where you get stamps that a staff member writes over with a paintbrush and ink. It is just beautiful. This book is taken to each temple and shrine for a unique entry.

Here is the picture from the book cover.

After the shrine, we went an open air market called Den Den Town where we were turned loose to explore.

Our first stop was none other than McDonald’s! Normally I have a no chain/fast food rule at travel destinations but this was very different and really good. I had a teriyaki burger with an egg and lemon sauce.

We found another shrine on our own and added a page to the book! The language barrier has made for some tricky situations but Google translate is helping. I will have another post with funny mistranslations that we have seen on signs.

After the market we attended a food tour with a guide named Levi who was so much fun. He took us to four different restaurants that are mainly for locals so we got to try food not usually seen by tourists. The only thing I didn’t like was jelly fish and a smoked daikon radish/cream cheese thing. He also gave us a lot of history of the area and a tour of a grocery store.

By the end of the day, we were exhausted and had racked up almost 24 thousand steps. Our early morning prep walk was a mistake stamina wise but worth it.