Kyoto to Osaka, Day 13 - Where Obnoxious Lights Are Unabashedly Awesome

I've always loved old meets new and Kyoto is a prime example. There were so many sights to see and I'm glad we were able to spend as many days here as we did. Of course, we didn't come close to seeing all of the UNESCO sights, but we saw all the sights we had hoped to see and visited many different parts of the city. And I loved staying so close to Gion at Tanaka-ya, so hospitable.

We took a cab to Kyoto Station and took the JR shinkaisoku to Osaka (540 Y) which only took 29 minutes. From there, we got on the Midosuji subway and took it to Namba, where our hotel was near.

Namba is a huge subway station (3 lines stop there) and it's connected to a giant underground shopping center, Namba Walk, reminiscent of the underground shopping centers in Korea.

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked back through the underground mall, shopped a little, and bought a pastry.

Much to our surprise, it was stuffed with crab. Pastry crab rangoon!

We walked upstairs, to ground level and walked around Dotonbori, a crazy street filled with shops and restaurants, lit with florescent lights and traffic-stopping billboards.

Along with the scents of various food wafting around, Dotonburi carries the risk of sensory overload.

It's the kind of setting that if it was described to me, I would roll my eyes and have no interest in partaking. But walking around in it and seeing the full-scale execution, I was immediately won over.

Dontonbori also extends to the river the next street over.

For lunch, we ducked into one of the unassuming restaurants near Dontonburi (not the one with the giant crab hanging above it), and each had the same bowl of chicken, rice, egg, and seaweed.

I do love a bowl with rice and egg. 2 bowls + 2 beers = 2400 Y.

After lunch, we walked through Shinsaibashi, an above-ground, covered shopping mall type place. The stores were very Western. I enjoyed walking around and people watching, but I didn't purchase anything. Hubs bought a manga at a bookstore that I think was five stories tall.

I couldn't resist buying an order of tako-yaki on our way back to the hotel.

Yep, fried balls with a creamy, octopus-filled interior. I must say, not bad if you like warm, creamy things with chewy bits.

Creamy center with a piece of tentacle sticking out. Mmm, tentacles.

After checking into the hotel, we took a little nap since we'd been running around all day. By the time we ventured back outside for dinner, it was raining.

We wandered around Shinsaibashi in search of a sushi restaurant we'd read about on a blog for what seemed like forever. We never found it and our stomachs were grumbling, so we relied on our old standby, okonomiyaki. And it turned out to be the best version of it we had on our trip!

It was heavy on the eggs, didn't have too much bbq sauce, and the beef was folded into it instead of sitting on top. We also had pork yaki-soba with udon and an egg. The noodles were so good.

2 dishes + 2 mugs of draft Kirins = 2500 Y.

When we left the restaurant, we walked back through Shinsaibashi and, magically, walked past the sushi restaurant we'd tried so hard to find earlier in the evening. Ah, the happy accidents of travelling.

We walked back over to Dotonburi and took photos of the Running Man in the rain. I loved the way he reflected in the river.

I also loved all the lights and people walking with their umbrellas. I discovered on this trip that I love the look of umbrellas. The rain, not so much.

On the way back to the hotel, we picked up some local liquor for a nightcap. I bought a can of Yebisu Light and a bottle of cold sake. Hubs couldn't resist buying a small bottle of Suntory, since we're such big fans of Lost in Translation. For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

The Yebisu Light wasn't as good as the dark, which was expected, the darker version wasn't at the store. The Suntory was caramel-y. Clearly, I'm not a whiskey expert. But I can say that the Suntory did make for a relaxing time.