We've Got Hot Crustacean Buns

We were off to Osaka. First on the agenda was the aquarium. I know, that doesn't sound very cultural, but according to trip advisor it's the #1 thing to do in Osaka, and according to Lonely Planet it's one of the best aquariums in the world, and I've never been to an aquarium, so we went. What an awesome experience! It was so different than going to the tourist attractions in Beijing. We really appreciated how quiet it was and how few people there were. Sometimes we would have a huge window all to ourselves to just sit and watch the sea creatures. The music they play in Japan in restaurants and stores and such is generally really good, jazzy, or classical, and it was the same at the aquarium, giving a good atmosphere. It was a very peaceful place. And the fish and sharks and dolphins were incredible!



 They have these massive tanks w/ hammerhead sharks, and groupers, and all sorts of rays, and black tipped sharks, and tawny sharks and white tipped sharks, but the coolest thing to see was the whale shark! It was ginormous! And we went at feeding time, and watching it eat was nuts. it went to the surface and sucked in a ton of water and then pushed it out again, but you could see his ribs expanding and contracting, it was amazing.

Lockey liked this weird bid fish!  It's called a sunfish

Huge Whale Shark!  in a ginormous tank, so cool to watch!

 We also watched the dolphins for quite a while.



 They were so playful, jumping and playing in a water fountain, and playing w/ a hoop, and playing follow the leader. I'm sure they sang the follow the leader song (Lockey doesn't know the follow the leader song; do you?). One time we saw one zipping by at top speed going straight for the wall, I was sure he was going to have a collision, but then last millisecond he turned and kept going just as fast. We watched the huge eyed sea lions playing w/ rocks and jumping out of the water, and one of them came right up to the glass and stared at me, and when I moved he followed, it was romantic. We definitely had a connection.





We saw feeding time w/ the penguins, which was interesting b/c some of the penguins were actually picky on which fish they would and wouldn't eat!  They would get them in their mouth and then spit it out and go for a different one, and if the person feeding them picked it up and tried to feed them the same one again they would spit it out until they got a new one, it was interesting!



 We saw otters first, and they were cute and curious, and then we kept walking and saw other otters from the Aleutian sea. Now they were both called otters, but I don't think you can even compare them! The Aleutian otters had personality! They were busy grooming, and eating chunks of ice, and laying on their backs in the water, and they were HUGE! They looked like bears. So furry and cuddly looking, but you wouldn't want to hug one b/c it would squish you.

 We saw LOTS of different kinds of jelly fish, who knew there were so many different kinds? It was such a serene area, and they are kind of mesmerizing. Lockey wants a jelly fish tank for his office one day.

 We also got to touch some rays and some sharks! It was really neat. The rays feel like they have a mucousy outer layer, but you never get mucous on your hands! And the sharks felt more like sandpaper. I didn't think a shark would have so much texture. Nor did I think it would be wise to pet sharks... but I did, and I survived to type the tale, with 2 hands, and 10 fingers.

And a few random little tanks at the end:

Check out those EYES! 

 Afterwards we stood at the harbor and watched the sunset. It was beautiful!

 Once the sun was down it was chilly so we went back to the hotel to rest our feet a bit and grab jackets before heading out on more adventures. We turned on the TV but everything was in Japanese, but we found a channel to watch anyways, it was a show w/ 2 hilarious japanese guys playing w/ puppies, and piglets and they showed a hippo, and a baby hippo, and baby animals in general, baby animals are cute no matter what language you speak. After we got our fill of "cute", we were off to find Dotombori, the place to be for dinner and night life.  We walked of course. We found this fantastic udon noodle place right by the river. Best noodles I've ever had. We got a Japanese curry one and a more fishy garlicy one as well. Lockey made sure I had enough noodles this time which was stellar. (And it didn't hurt that you could get extra noodles at no charge, so obviously we did.)

Then we went on the river walk, where Lockey had not 1 but 2 ice cream cones (but to set the record straight I did help him eat them) and I got a hot chocolate.

We found Dotombori and a bunch of different shopping streets and it definitely was the place to be.

We saw this picture on Trip Advisor and then randomly found it! 

A huge climbing wall on the outside of a skyscraper (it was an amusement park type of thing, it looked really hard like they didn't want anyone to accomplish it, b/c they weren't about to give away a prize!) 

Rose Lips hotel... Sounds classy

It's "by the 90 mins" classy!  

picture of a puffer fish! 

Uncle Lockey fighting a dragon for Prycen!

A funny sign we saw at a place called "Hot Hots"... I actually ended up LOVING hot hots!  (They are custard filled crusty pastry w/ soft insides... the hot chocolate chip one was delish!)