We woke up earlier than usual today. It was going to be activity-packed early morning. We need to enjoy another onsen bath, get ready, have breakfast, pack and check our before catching 9.25am train to Osaka.
The public baths open at 7am daily, so we got up at 6.30am. Ichino-yu was located just next to our ryokan, so that was handy.
I took a shower, then took a dump in the toilet before soaking in the bath, so my dad finished before me. I asked him not to wait for me and to go back to ryokan first to get ready.
The outdoor bath here was so nice, plus a cold morning, the temperature fit me just nice. I could sit here forever, but I had to rush.
On my returned to ryokan, I found out from mom that dad hadn’t got back yet. It had been at least 15 mins since I last saw him. He must have been lost! I hurriedly went out to search for him. Not far down the street from our ryokan, the opposite turn from the ryokan, I spotted my dad still in his yukata and bathing basket standing on the street side, as if waiting for a bus. Fiuhh, luckily he didn’t walk too far away.
Breakfast was very banquet-style with boiled tofu, miso soup, rice, porridge, grilled trout, cawan mushi, pickles, western salad, and some sort of milk pudding with caramelised black sesame sugar and kinako for dessert.
After checking out, Mr. Hachi-san drove us back to the station. It was such a small town he could leave his limousine just outside the station entrance with door open and engine running and helped us carry our luggage to elevator.
Our train reached Osaka station at 12.23, exactly as scheduled. To get to JR-Namba, we had to transfer at Shinimamiya, which were troublesome because we had to take two flights of stairs as there were no elevator or escalator.
Our hotel was conveniently located just above JR-Namba station, with a Life Food Market on ground floor, next to Namba Walk. Check in time was 3pm, so after dropping luggage, we went to get some lunch in Namba Walk before visiting Osaka Castle.
We took JR train and get off at Osakajokoen station. The castle was about 30 minutes walk away from the station, and when we got to the front court of the castle, mom decided not to enter the castle. So we ended up taking a few photos and bought some snacks from stores nearby.
Next stop was Dotonbori. We had dinner in Ichiran before spending a lot of time in a gift shop selling many varieties of snacks next door. The shop was so busy the customers even had to queue to pay. Sanny went and bought takoyaki from next door while my sister queued.
After shopping, everyone was tired, so we walked back to hotel, stopping by Daiso, just before their closing time, which was 11pm daily.