Japan Day 8

Overcast today. Thankfully it did not rain. Left around 10am. Thought about stopping for breakfast, so I went 15 minutes the other direction and ended up not stopping, because again, no parking. Headed back towards my first stop today, which is Osaka Tenmangu Shrine. I put parking into my route today, and when I arrived, I noticed the turn in a little too late, so I could not back up a little because of a line of cars behind me. They asked me to go around the block, which I did. After parking, I walked around the shrine. A lot of people in line to go inside, which since you can not take pictures inside the shrine, I decided not to do it. After taking a lot of pictures, I headed to my next stop. By the way, parking was free there for visitors, which was nice. Next stop is Osaka Castle. Found the parking lot with ease and walked into the bottom area where they had a small train that would take you all the way up to the castle for 400 yen ($2.85), so I rode the train up. Huge castle with an actual moat all the way around it. Just like in the movies. Walked all around the outside and then paid to go inside it. They did mask check and temperature check in a small building before going up the steps. Very interesting inside and out. I found my way back to the train stop, but it was 20 minutes before the next one and then another 20 or so minutes to get back, because it stops at a couple locations. I decided to walk back down which didn’t take too long. Went to leave and the ticket for the pay machine for the parking lot would not work. After several tries and now someone behind me, I used the call phone to get help. Of course, the person had to find someone that spoke English. After explaining to the guy that it wasn’t working, he opened gate remotely for me. Did not have to pay parking, which was cool. Afterwards, I thought maybe it was an old hotel ticket and I had lost the real one. Ooppss. Next, I was going to get lunch and found a Subway Sandwiches 6 miles away. I decided after getting close that I did not feel like walking 5 minutes after parking, especially if it might rain. I headed for my last stop of the day, the Osaka Museum of Housing & Living, which is an indoor and outdoor museum with the history of the area and a mock setup outside of an old village. Pretty interesting. I left there and decided to get dinner on my way back to the hotel. Stopped and ate. This McDonalds had a parking lot, but it was a paid parking lot… jeez. Had the same things that come up in front of your rear wheels so you can’t leave without paying. Got back to the hotel and showered up. I must get everything ready for tomorrow which is Universal Studios Japan. It is about 42 minutes away and opens at 9am so I will probably leave around 7:45am to get there when it opens.