Osaka

I thought the last day of winter break was a good time for a trip. So, I decided to go to Osaka. I left in the morning and traveled to Nagoya. I met some interesting people that I talked to along the way. When I reached Nagoya, I went and purchased my tickets for the Shinkansen, or bullet train. After purchasing, I made my way to the terminal and got on the Shinkansen that was heading for Osaka. The ride was awesome, the inside looked like an airplane. This was my first time riding the Shinkansen so it was really fun. When I reached Osaka, I switched to the subway and went to Namba, where dotombori is. The many shops there are impressive. The thing that was really interesting was the signs and various statues I saw. I saw some famous ones that I heard about, as well as many I haven't. I think getting to see it in person was really neat. While I was there, I tried some Tocoyaki, Ramen, and Oconomiyaki. The food was really good. After exploring, I walked to America mura which had a lot of shops there. The decorations and wall murals where impressive. The next area I wanted to see was Osaka castle. So, I got on the subway and rode it until I got to Morinomiya. When I exited the station, I was right by the castle which was pretty cool. The castle was neat as well as getting to see the artifacts in the museum. After I finished touring the castle, I tried a footbath. The water was really warm and combined with the wind, felt really nice. I also talked with some people visiting from California on some sort of a school trip. After finishing seeing the castle I thought it would be interesting to see the American consulate. I ‘ve never seen one before so I thought it would be an interesting side trip. The building was really huge. After seeing it, I walked back to the subway and returned to Shin-Osaka and got on the Shinkansen to return to Nagoya and then used the train as well as bus to then return to AUE.