View of Osaka from our room in the morning
On our first day in Japan, Tony and I were wide awake by 5am. The sun was already out and we knew the girls wouldn't be up for a few more hours so we headed out to check out the town.We were hungry so we went to the only place we knew that was opened - McDonald's. We call it having brekkie at Macca's (it's Australian slang for breakfast at McDonald's). I will be doing a separate entry on just McDonald's since the regional differences fascinate me.
After eating, we walked around the streets of Osaka to get a better idea of what there was to see and do. The city was the least researched of the whole itinerary as there didn't seem to be quite as much to see as the other places we would be visiting so a day was okay with me.
I didn't realize at the time but we were walking through Dotonbori, the famous street that runs along the Dotonbori Canal. It's not much to look at in the morning as it comes alive at night with all the neon lights and lots of people.
Dotonbori Canal in the morning.
I fell in love with the hotel on the left with the painting of the women on the wall. It reminded me of a painting my sister-in-law has. We walked in the front to see what the name of it was so I could find out the name.
It's called Petit Hotel - Rose Lips. When I looked online later that night I found it was a love hotel! Japan is know for it's love hotels which are short term stays ranging from an hour but not more than a day for the purpose of couples getting it on. I should have known from the various pricing on the sides but it didn't occur to me at the time that this is what it was. These hotels are very common in Osaka and Tokyo but this was the first time I had confirmation of one. I want to visit one on our next trip to check it out, you know for journalistic purposes of course!
We actually saw another one on the way back to our room - A Year of Your in Provence.
We walked by a bike rack lot where you can park your bike for up to 24 hours
Japan has limited land so they make use of their air space and that goes for parking spaces. This car pulls in, the hydraulic lift moves it up to a designated spot and voila, you can park a dozen or so cars in this small space. When we came back with the girls, we showed them this and look a peek inside at all the cars. A friendly man came out and asked us where we were from. We said California/USA and he said he had visited California and was happy to make a connection. He said he was from Korea and Tony said a few words in Korean and his face lit up. He made some more small talk and we went on our way. As we left I said the only Korean words I know - kamsahamnida - thank you very much!
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