August 11th

Today was our last day of our JR train pass. So we decided to go to Osaka to see the Osaka Castle. Its only about an hour away and its really beautiful to see. I went there once before back in 2006 when I came to Japan with Maysam and Jonathan. Its weird to think its already been 4 years since that trip but we all know that time goes by to fast. We headed out around 12:30 because we couldn't decide where to go for a couple hours. We were torn between going back to Tokyo for a day or going to Osaka...

At the Wani train station waiting for our train to Katata and then to Osaka.

 We first got to the Osaka train station and then made a transfer to the place where the castle is. So this pic is of the first view out of the train station.

On our way to the castle there were some guys flying helicopters for fun. They were actually pretty sweet.

 School group that also went to the castle.

 First view of the castle!!!

The castle was burned down twice. Back when it was first build and again in WWII. Apparently the actual castle and surrounding area is 3 times smaller then it actually was. Volunteers rebuilt it after the burning in WWII. (If my history is wrong then sorry! I was told this by my cousins haha)

Which one do you like??


 

View from the top floor of the castle. The wind up there was incredible.

 

We took a little ice cream break for Cassy. She loved it.

There was a guy that was feeding pigeons. He reminded us of the pigeon guy from Home Alone...

Random picture. Added some random effects to it.

We went to a mall nearby for some food and Cassy found a sweet wig.

Random staircases we saw from the train back home. Literally random... there are no doors or exits. Only in Japan...

Anyways, we were there for a few hours and went back home. It was around 95 degrees today so it was nice to go back home to cool off.