Mount Koya, while beautiful, was kind of hard to sleep on the tatami. I woke up with a really bad back ache and was really happy we weren’t staying more than one night.
The monks rang their gongs at 5am for their morning mantra and our vegetarian breakfast was at 7am. I swear this breakfast would only keep the monks full, not normal people. But maybe that’s just my gluttony talking.
We made our way down the mountain towards Osaka at 9am. We headed to Osaka after a quick bite to eat where we went to Osaka Castle, one of Japan’s most iconic landmarks dating back to the 16th century. It’s impressive design is amazing for how old it actually is.
We went on an ice cream run right outside the castle where I got strawberry. Afterwords we made our way to the biggest department store in the city. With a total of 17 floors and even a vegetable garden on the roof, this place was shocking.
Department store out of the way, as well as a quick run to the hotel for a rinse off due to the humidity, we moved to the Namba area.
There are hundreds of food stores within this area. We tried the Japanese cheesecake at Rikuro’s. If you like sweet desserts, this is not for you. While it’s super fluffy, it reminds me more of a chiffon cake than a cheese cake. I’d rather stick to my dense, sweet American goodness. Gluttony here talking again.
Still hungry, we made our way to dinner before heading back to the hotel early. Somehow I forgot to put on sunscreen and burned both of my shoulders and my thighs. They are a bright red and sting just like an octopus thrown into boiling water. Mmm. Takoyaki.
Anyway, lol, I’m going to go to bed as we want to try to get to Osaka Aquarium as soon as they open. With it being our last day here, I think I’m going to take it as easy as possible before we head to the airport where we have to chill in Haneda Airport for 7 hours in between our flights.
I still can’t wait for my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Addis
I remember Rikuro had good purin. Pablo cheesecake is probably more fitting for American taste. Still not as sweet, and consistency is different than our dense cheesecake, but I think it’s worth a try (especially the matcha one). Did you try Cremia ice cream or Hokkaido milk ice cream yet? So good! I feel Japanese people love ice cream because there’s so many ice cream shops everywhere lol. One time I ate three cones in a day hahaha. Seeing your posts makes me want to go back just to eat…
Enjoy your last day!
Thanks for sharing! Looks like it was an amazing trip. Enjoy your last day!!
Thank you for taking us with you on your journeys 🙂 Enjoy your final day! Safe Travels!
Thank you^^
Thank You…Have fun:D
Have fun at the aquarium! Your trip sounds so amazing!
Thank you so much for sharing your adventure! More than anything I have to admit I enjoy an look forward to your posts about where you have gone and the food.I adore seeing food a lot. I would have warned you about their cheesecake though had I known, I work for a B&B and once I wanted to make something different so I ended up looking up some Japanese sweet recipes…. Cream cheese chiffon cake isn’t bad though and they come out super poofy.
I love that you’ve had ice cream nearly every day…and it was all different (even the cones). I just have to say you are awesome! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s installment. Thanks again for sharing your trip with us.
Thank you for sharing. I really love the posts about your journey. Can you put it together and make a pdf of it so that I can read it again and again? I’d like to use your itinerary for my next trip. Can you also tell me how much does the whole trip cost? So that I can plan the budget. Thank you so much…
Yeah, sugar content in asian desserts (cakes, buns, etc) aren’t usually so sweet so I’m not too surprised it was different. Thanks for sharing the great picks. The food pics are definitely making me drool.
Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita Addis. For showing us these beautiful places.
food! yum yum!
Thanks for the photos!