This morning, daddy and I woke up earlier. It's our last day in Japan and we were hoping to enjoy the breads from that bakery. It was open, unfortunately it didn't have the large croissants nor baguette. We still bought some baked goods and headed home to feed the masses.
Then we headed out to the station where we bought our day pass again. Next stop Tennoji. Wanted to experience the Christmas Market. Not like the ones in Europe, but since there is one here, I wanted to go have a look. We got a little lost finding our way to Tennoji Park.. we walked along this little shopping street:
Then we walked pass the Tennoji Zoo, we were surprised that the gates were closed (later found out that the zoo is closed on Mondays):
And finally, we're here. There were tables and chairs set up for patrons to eat/drink out in the open. There was even a little ice-skating rink (which Mei-mei wanted to go with Ko-ko, but he flatly refused to go with her.. sigh..)
Took this photo, not because of the word, but because of the cute doggy
Like the Christmas markets in Europe, they also had their own mugs for sale:
And of course, we finally found somewhere which sold pretty Christmas ornaments. We have managed to buy Christmas ornaments in all of the countries that we have visited so far.
Picking the ornaments
A little further down, we spotted a stall selling roasted almonds, reminiscence of our trip to
Tallinn. Too bad it wasn't too great. Then daddy spotted this stall selling wooden Christmas ornaments. The ornaments were so beautiful... but rather on the pricey side. The seller was an old old man who could only speak Japanese. So we happily nodded to whatever he said to us. He was very obliging and showed us whatever we asked to look at.
Nutcracker: Something daddy has always wanted
In the end, we picked this really cute Santa Clause (which smokes.. literally) and a cute angel which can hang on the tree. We didn't get to go to Europe to experience the Christmas markets, but we did get to buy a little of Europe as it turned out that the wooden ornaments are made in Germany.
Then we searched for a place to sit at and have a little bite. Found this vacant booth, so daddy and you kiddies went off in search for something to eat.
3 trees in the middle of the park
And here's what we had:
Hot Chocolate and Beer
Stew in a bun and sausages
By then, we were about done with the market. So we headed off towards the station when we spotted Mege Don Quijote (a.k.a. Don Donki in Malaysia). Amazingly, we have yet to walk into any of this "famed" shop, which is recommended by all Japan visitors. It has almost everything under one roof.
Well, I managed to buy most of the things which I wanted here and we headed home to drop off our stuff. And have another meal of cup noodles and leftovers from breakfast:
And finally (after much "persuasion") you both sat down to write the post cards. We have bought them in Himeji and some in Uji and finally you both got the ready and Ko-ko brought you to the nearest post office to drop the post cards to be sent to yourself (for Mei-mei), Denisse and Ah Kong and Ah Ma (from the both of you).
Never written a postcard before!
While you were all busy with your stuff, daddy was busy doing a search for the grand finale meal. The fund that we collect has quite a fair bit of money left, so we agreed to have a big "Crab meal". Not much restaurants turned up in his search. The one with the big crab in Dotonbori to which Ko-ko kept insisting not to go there, that it's a tourist trap.
But in the end, as we could not find another restaurant, daddy went ahead and were lucky to be able to get a reservation for us at 8pm.
What to do as the day is still young? We decided to go to the Osaka Castle. We had no intention of going in, but would be nice to have a look at it from the outside.
So off we went to the Tengachaya Station. When we exited the Tanimachiyonchome Station, we walked a little and saw this (looks like our kampung house):
A quick Google says this is called The Hoenzaka Ruins, which is home to a raised-floor warehouse discovered during excavations after 1954. Interesting..
A short walk later, we were awed by the castle.. beautiful!
Daddy with his babies
Our babies in front of the castle
My darling and I
The castle grounds were quite crowded. After a bit of time spent, we decided to fully utilise our day pass. We hopped onto the metro on the Chuo Line and initially planned to go to Osaka Bay. As we sat in the train, we decided to go further to the further stop, Cosmosquare. When we walked out of the station, brrrrr.... it was SUPER cold. The wind blowing from the sea made it very cold.
We all quickly zipped up and put on our hoodie to ensure our ears are warm (er).
The sea was very choppy
We could also see the Osaka Bay Ferris wheel from here and it was amazing as the lights on the Ferris wheel had patterns running on it.
Ko-ko seemed to be enjoying the cold weather walking along the boardwalk, while the rest of us hid behind the wall of the staircase to protect is from the blowing wind. Where to next? We decided to head to the earlier stop, Osaka Bay. As usual, groucho Ko-ko didn't want to go on the Ferris wheel, so we agreed that you'd sit with daddy while I go with Mei-mei.
Just as we walked to the station, I noticed that your "ducky" bell which was stuck to your phone had gone missing. Oh dear.. the string had broken and the ducky was nowhere to be found. You were very upset over the loss. Daddy had bought from Ayanokoji for you.
You looked so upset that we had to cancel the Ferris wheel plan and head back to the city center to the other branches. We quickly checked on Google maps for the nearest store. It was on the 5th Floor of Isetan in Shinsaibashi. We went up up up to the 5th floor, but they didn't have the ducky. Daddy asked you to pick something from the existing selection, just in case we could not replace the ducky.
Then we tried our luck in another store in Lucua. Phew... we're in luck. They had many in stock. We took more than 1 (just in case it gets lost again!).
In a better mood now that ducky has been replaced
Well, we've had all the adventures that we needed for the day. Checked-in to see where Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis are, and they said that they are hanging out in a little bar along the Dotonburi Canal. So we made our way there to join them while waiting for our dinner reservations:
Located on a more quite part of Dotonburi
Our drinks
Daddy also ordered Wagyu skewers
As the time for our dinner reservations approached, we made our way to the restaurant "Kani Doraku Dotonbori Main Branch". After giving our name, they sent us to the 3rd floor to where our private room was located.
Giant Crab
Our happy faces
Then we discussed on what to order.
Crab sake
Crab sashimi
Crab innards
Grilled crab legs
Crab porridge (we had 3 servings of this!)
Crab Chawanmushi
Crab sushi
It was a satisfying meal, not too expensive. Total bill was around ¥40,000 (~RM1,200).
Daddy and Uncle Dennis then headed out to explore the neighboring area while the rest of us did a little shopping (last round) at the pharmacy.
We ended up taking a lot of time at the pharmacy. The 2 men were already home, while we were still in Dotonburi. As it was nearly 11pm and the McDonald's at Tengachaya Station closed at 11, Ko-ko brought Mei-mei home so that you'd both be able to try out the McDonald's.
Unfortunately, it was a long wait for the train to arrive (we all ended up sitting the same train home). So daddy made a mad dash to the station (THANK GOODNESS the house is only 5 mins away from the station!!) and bought a meal for Mei-mei, a burger for himself and also a Beef Stew pie which I had mentioned about before.
My beef stew pie... so-so only!
I had also cooked a pot of Miso soup to be part of our meals yesterday and here is Ko-ko finishing up the remaining soup:
Lazy to grab a spoon!
Bottoms up
We finished packing up all our bags. Then daddy brought them down so that we don't have to scramble early tomorrow morning.
