Osaka. The Sheraton Miyako.

Sunday morning and not long to go before we're back in Melbourne's wintery embrace. We had left the Gap tour and were on our own once more. We slept in a little and packed our bags, checked out of the hotel in readiness to move to the Sheraton Miyako later that day.
We stowed our bags in the lobby knowing that the Sheraton was miles away from any of the bustle of Osaka, and shopped, visiting Donombori by day, across through America Mura, meaning American town (so something of that nature) which is where there are a heap of boutiques and all the young men have beards, vests and tilted hats. Cool man.

All clean in there?

Checking the rates on a hotel for you and your dog. Lots of pampering.

We walked a heap, passing through and onto Takashimaya, a huge department store to escape the dreadful humidity. After we recharged, we walked to Den Den finding the shade where we could. Yesterday Ash and Logan bought a solar charger from a store there which did not work. After a bunch of walking, we found the store and I got a refund. Nice.

We walked back through Dotombori which by now had opened fully (10:00 on Sundays) and ate lunch.

Dotombori by day is a bit like Vegas, not nearly as flashy looking.

Mouse pads with a handy, padded wrist rest.

We bought icecream from from a Turkish icecream guy who was VERY entertaining, flicking it about and fooling kids with his antics. As they grabbed the cone off him, they found themselves with an empty cone and the original still in his grasp. Funny stuff.


We returned to the hotel, caught two taxis to the Sheraton and checked in. A MUCH bigger hotel though the rooms are only slightly bigger than those found on the Gap tour. Quite disappointed that it seems so out of the way.

This little dude is Buddha combined with a deer for some reason, but he's everywhere.

We found the pool, a grand, outdoor, four-laned affair on the fifth floor and returned with our bathers to discover it was about 50:00 to swim. It was SO hot, and we had talked about having a swim all morning (that and talking about the dog), that we paid and swam. Some interesting observations though, No one with tattoos allowed (?), no shoes in the change rooms (we were talked to by a gruff pool attendant), no entering the pool without first showering (the same attendant), hair caps to be worn in the pool, no diving, no cameras. By the time we got into the water, we didn't do much, afraid of splashing or walking with raised voices. Instead we soaked and floated in near silence while Brad backstroked up and down. We stayed till we figured we had had our money's worth (and we had sufficiently pruned up) and left in an orderly fashion, showering with respect and cleaning ourselves in order to be respectable on our way through the pool lobby.

We rested and then ate an early meal in a place across the street. Man! Smoking in restaurants here is epidemic. The place seemed okay but as soon as we ordered, a table of five sat behind us and all lit up. We had to move. It's been a real block to us trying some of the smaller, more interesting nooks on our journey. We'd say.. “This looks nice”, step in and straight back out. That's why we will drink a coffee at Starbucks. It's American and forbids smoking.

Little Sake and a big beer!

Back to the room, some a little full of Sake, and a quick shop before settling in for a restful night.