Off to Kyoto!

We say our goodbyes to Mika and Koichi and thank them for a wonderful (yet short) stay in Osaka.

The next leg of our journey will take us to the reputed and much talked-about city of Kyoto.

After a relatively short ride, we arrive safe and sound.

Even the stairs are cute

Not even out of the train station yet, and we are bombarded with kawaii

Yes we do!

In this city, we decided to book a place to stay through ''Air BnB'' which is a service where hosts can rent out their extra bedrooms, apartments, or even whole houses.
As a patron, you are allowed to search through and filter these places based on your desired locations, price, features, or even previous user reviews.
We made sure to book a place relatively central, and best of all with bicycles!

Our rented apartment was only a couple blocks from Nijo Castle and the nearest train station even closer. A short shuffle a couple blocks over with our bags, and we were home free.

Ground floor and humble

After unloading and reclaiming some energy, we decide to go out for a walk and gather our bearings.

Conveniently, we were also only a few meters away from Sanjo Dori, a major shopping street

It doesn't take long for us to decide we're rather hungry, and we go venturing down an inviting side street.
Anne's watchful eye catches a place that serves one of her favorites: Okonomiyaki

Our chef preparing the delicacy

Very happy to have some crispy fresh food

Custard filled fish. So bad, but so goood

So after our meanderings and some debatable dessert choices on my part, we decide to purchase wine, chocolate, snacks, and chuhai to celebrate our arrival.

Decision-making was further impaired as the night went on.

Anne discovers one of the more useful bonuses to our rental

The last thing I remember

*THUMP*

Mission: Ofuro and Last Day in Osaka

The writing for YU, which means ''hot water''

On my first trip to Japan, I was introduced to the Ofuro, the bath house. They are also sometimes called Onsen or not so commonly, Sento.
They are a hugely important part of Japanese culture dating back since as long as anyone can remember. They are a common fixture in every town, and can be found rather readily when one cares to look.
Going to them has also become somewhat of a tradition for me while I'm in Japan.
This trip is no exception, in fact, there's a new mission.
MISSION OFURO: To visit an ofuro in every city we come through.

First stop, an Onsen in Osaka

This is a layout of the facility in case you lose your way...

Every Ofuro or Onsen has it's own features. At their most basic, they are outfitted with showers, a hot bath, a cold bath, and most often times with a sauna as well.
More and more common these days, you can choose to attend a fancy establishment. These are equipped with a veritable wonderland of different bath types including waterfalls, jets, outdoor pools, 'electric baths', sit down tubs, lay down tubs, saunas with TV and even a cold room with fake snow, if you can imagine that.
These upscale spots will often offer massage, food, and even places to sleep if it's a ''24-hour'' spa.

Needless to say, they can get quite interesting.

Typical showers in an Ofuro

Reading material when you just want to relax after a soak.

Slightly ambiguous machine

One of the more notable features was the ''Below Zero Room''

Kind of weird, right? Made me miss home a little bit. Haha.






Here are some other sights from our last day in Osaka prior to our trip to the Ofuro.

Here is the view from outside our friend's home

Osaka is a very old city which is located near Kyoto.
In older times, Kyoto was the Capitol of Japan, and the seat of the Emperor long before Tokyo.

Because of it's close proximity to Kyoto, there are many graves of Nobles and long dead Emperors located throughout Osaka.
Often times there would be man-made moats dug around the graves to form an artificial island. This was so that the grave or tomb would go undisturbed.
One of these graves was located near the house, and on the island there live many creatures. Some of which are the Japanese ''raccoon-dogs''. tanuki.
Many people walk by and feed the creatures bread and seeds. There are also many ducks and turtles there as well.

Turtles and Tanuki

Japanese people love to plant flowers in the spring - even in the heart of the city

We visit a yaki niku restaurant, where we can grill our own food right at the table -- AWESOME!

YAKINIKU!!

The classic symbol signifying a bath house

Osaka Aquarium - Home of the Overwhelmingly Cute

GOOD MORNING!

Another wonderful morning in Japan. However this time we have a special surprise in store for our friends.
We prepare a tabemono journey west, with as much flare as we can must with our culinary might (and with Japanese ingredients).
And to top it all off, we throw in a bit of my specialty, nerd coffee.

The spread

Bacon, Sausage + Mushroom Omelette

Aeropress. The traveler's best friend.

Natto: Love it or hate it

After breakfast we hop to train towards to harbor and make way to the Port of Osaka.

Sights on the way

The "Santa Maria"

That's a big'n

Thank god

After looking around the port for awhile, we head into the Aquarium.
As one can start to notice, the Japanese have quite the penchant for gut-wrenchingly cute graphic design. And when animals get involved, it only gets better.

The feeding schedule. Because let's be honest, that's the only reason we're even there.

Creepy Crawlers

Derp

This is an Indonesian mammal that eats coffee cherries. It knows what's up.

Obligatory Aqua-Photo. Aren't we cute?

"It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!"

Aquarium Logo

Goofy little river otters. They were running around everywhere being adorable with ADHD.

Fatties

Derp derp

The Dolphins were great at doing tricks!

They were really fun to watch

Dogs of the Sea

It's what's on the inside that counts

Dance!

Cozy

We wrap up our adventure and greet the beautiful blue skies.

 We have a tasty dinner of yaki tori (grilled chicken) and enjoy good sake and shochu.

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Evidence

After dinner we take a walk to downtown Osaka and stop by the famous bridge