Wandering Back

Since I had missed the night cruise, I thought I'd catch the cruise at 10:00. Got there in plenty of time, only nothing ever happened. No boat arrived, no ticket sellers, no crew saying "Ohoy there matey". Nothing. So I went to plan B. I think Osaka would be a great place to live. But for the one-day sightseer, Osaka is not exactly known for anything in particular. They have a castle, but it's a modern reconstruction. In Japan it's famous for it's Universal Studios Theme Park, but I've been to the original and the Orlando parks. It's known for it great nightlife, but I'm an old woman and it was morning. So the only other thing that I could think of that makes Osaka special is the bay. So I jumped on the subway to see what the bayside had to offer. I ended up going to the aquarium. Which turned out to be pretty interesting. As a former Sea World employee, it takes a lot to impress me. But they did it. The lesser exhibits are fairly well done, and if the animals don't seem to have a lot of horizontal space, they do have a deep vertical space to swim in. And you get to see them from both the top and in the water. But the most spectacular part was the main tank with a multitude of sea creatures, the stars being the sting rays and a huge manta ray...and a whale shark. They were all just so magnificent. And the jelly fish exhibits were so cool. The spider crab exhibit was spooky and gave me a big ol' case of the heebie jeebies. Next I was finally able to take a cruise. But get this: It was on the Santa Maria. Yep, a boat barely based on the historic ship of Christopher Columbus. Why? I don't know. It's Japan. The cruise didn't really go very far and didn't pass anything particularly interesting, but it was okay. I had just enough time before needing to head home to go on the giant ferris wheel next door to the aquarium. It was at one point the tallest ferris wheel in the world and goes up 105 meters. The views were really spectacular, and I'm so glad I did it. But then it was time to find my way back home again. I was meeting a private student at 6:30, so I needed to grab my stuff and go back. The Shinkansen was once again easy and a delight. I think I'm going to miss that train most of all when I leave. And that might have been my last trip on it. Oooh, oooh, no tearing up yet....excuse me, I have to go blow my nose now.