Thursday, March 31st: Nozomi from Okayama to Osaka
Packed up to check out of Okayama, then went to mail our second batch of goodies back to the states. Okayama's Symphonay Hall has a lovely atrium/arcade worth visiting for some indoor shopping and a products of Okayama prefecture souvenir shop with helpful, bi-lingual staff. We looked at Gohara lacquerware (beautiful clear lacquer outside that reveals wood grain, and vermillion lacquer inside), but at ¥6300 pr bowl we decided to pass. Bizen-yaki pottery (like all the pottery we have seen so far) has been priced like art rather than like beautiful, but useful dishes. Sigh.
Checking out of Okayama Granvia was a breeze, Octopus travel had already charged me - and the hotel knew it so we had no surprise this time. Backpacks are getting easier to pack - so we must be getting better at this.
Nozomi was only ¥200 more than Hikari Rail Star to Shin-Osaka (from Okayama), so we ended up on Nozomi again (wheeeeeeeee!), and this time we were smart and bought sushi bento boxes from the excellent and cheap sushi place in the West end of the station before getting on the train. Much better than Shinkansen food, and better priced. From Shin-Osaka we caught Osaka city subway line Midosuji (Red) to Namba, then followed signs for station exit #4 right into the Swissotel Nankai (much easier than I imagined), and were too early to check right in so the hotel took our bags and we walked around a bit and had shakes in the hotel lobby bar.
At first we were shocked to find that Swissotel Nankai also lacks broadband to the room, but when we went down to the business center to get online - they rented us a DSL to Ethernet "modem" for ¥1500/day (ouch, but we need to get online to plan the rest of the trip). BTW - this time we were able to dial out, but AOL's Osaka numbers were all busy for hours. No wonder no one uses AOL here in Japan.
Went down to the Nankai train station (also in the hotel lobby, very convenient) to meet Dan, Jeff, and Jonathan as they get in - probably tired and confused. They turned up right about 7pm and were very glad to see us. We disappointed Jeff by deciding on American food for dinner (Hard Rock Cafe) because Erci and I had not had a simple burger in over 10 days, and Dan and Jonathan were too tired and hungry to go Japanese just yet. Introduced them to Osaka's subway line to get to and from the Hard Rock Cafe (forgot how damned noisy American restaurants are). Note: Osaka's Hard Rock Cafe has moved. It is NOT near the Nankai Namba station and old stadium anymore (like the guide books say). It is just outside surface exit #9 from Honmachi station on Midosuji line.
Checking out of Okayama Granvia was a breeze, Octopus travel had already charged me - and the hotel knew it so we had no surprise this time. Backpacks are getting easier to pack - so we must be getting better at this.
Nozomi was only ¥200 more than Hikari Rail Star to Shin-Osaka (from Okayama), so we ended up on Nozomi again (wheeeeeeeee!), and this time we were smart and bought sushi bento boxes from the excellent and cheap sushi place in the West end of the station before getting on the train. Much better than Shinkansen food, and better priced. From Shin-Osaka we caught Osaka city subway line Midosuji (Red) to Namba, then followed signs for station exit #4 right into the Swissotel Nankai (much easier than I imagined), and were too early to check right in so the hotel took our bags and we walked around a bit and had shakes in the hotel lobby bar.
At first we were shocked to find that Swissotel Nankai also lacks broadband to the room, but when we went down to the business center to get online - they rented us a DSL to Ethernet "modem" for ¥1500/day (ouch, but we need to get online to plan the rest of the trip). BTW - this time we were able to dial out, but AOL's Osaka numbers were all busy for hours. No wonder no one uses AOL here in Japan.
Went down to the Nankai train station (also in the hotel lobby, very convenient) to meet Dan, Jeff, and Jonathan as they get in - probably tired and confused. They turned up right about 7pm and were very glad to see us. We disappointed Jeff by deciding on American food for dinner (Hard Rock Cafe) because Erci and I had not had a simple burger in over 10 days, and Dan and Jonathan were too tired and hungry to go Japanese just yet. Introduced them to Osaka's subway line to get to and from the Hard Rock Cafe (forgot how damned noisy American restaurants are). Note: Osaka's Hard Rock Cafe has moved. It is NOT near the Nankai Namba station and old stadium anymore (like the guide books say). It is just outside surface exit #9 from Honmachi station on Midosuji line.
