Our plan for yesterday was to visit the aquarium (largest in Japan) and Osaka castle. But our plans had a slight change when we went to meet up with some of the other travelers and one of them was lost. Kevin's dad had gone out for a walk over two hours earlier and hadn't returned. So, Wayne, EDP, Kevin's brother and Kevin's sister-in-law set out to find him. We looked for quite some time with no luck. However, on one of our trips back to Kevin's house, there was a police car in front of the building. Lou had gotten himself turned around but found a police station and they helped him home. Needless to say, he got some ribbing about getting lost but everyone was happy he had made it home.
After that bit of excitement, we headed to the aquarium, which was really cool. Unfortunately, I didn't find Nemo but I did find penguins and turtles and a whale shark and tonnes of other cool stuff. It was a really enjoyable couple of hours. Then, we headed off to Osaka castle where Wayne and Kevin were mobbed by school children playing "country bingo" - they had to speak to people from various countries and get them to sign their paper. At least, that's what we think was going on. They may have thought Wayne was Justin Bieber. After the castle, we all went to Aya's (the bride's) parents' home for dinner. It was a really enjoyable evening and the food was delicious!!
Today was a much less busy day. Wayne, EDP, and I went to visit Himeji castle, one of the largest castles in Japan. It and its grounds were absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the main keep is under renovations so we couldn't see it but they have put up an observation building so you can see some of the renovations up close. It was really neat to see that. We also toured through some beautiful Japanese gardens that had several koi ponds. We caught feeding time at the pond and it was amazing to see 250 koi going nuts trying to get at the food.
Oh, but the best part of the entire day was definitely having hot chocolate at the Hello Kitty Cafe. They made our drinks look like Hello Kitty on top! And FYI, it was EDP who wanted to stop there.
After that bit of excitement, we headed to the aquarium, which was really cool. Unfortunately, I didn't find Nemo but I did find penguins and turtles and a whale shark and tonnes of other cool stuff. It was a really enjoyable couple of hours. Then, we headed off to Osaka castle where Wayne and Kevin were mobbed by school children playing "country bingo" - they had to speak to people from various countries and get them to sign their paper. At least, that's what we think was going on. They may have thought Wayne was Justin Bieber. After the castle, we all went to Aya's (the bride's) parents' home for dinner. It was a really enjoyable evening and the food was delicious!!
Today was a much less busy day. Wayne, EDP, and I went to visit Himeji castle, one of the largest castles in Japan. It and its grounds were absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the main keep is under renovations so we couldn't see it but they have put up an observation building so you can see some of the renovations up close. It was really neat to see that. We also toured through some beautiful Japanese gardens that had several koi ponds. We caught feeding time at the pond and it was amazing to see 250 koi going nuts trying to get at the food.
Oh, but the best part of the entire day was definitely having hot chocolate at the Hello Kitty Cafe. They made our drinks look like Hello Kitty on top! And FYI, it was EDP who wanted to stop there.