After a looong travel day and arriving late to our accommodation we woke refreshed and ready to go… NOT! (teaching the kids sarcasm so we need to be extra obvious currently)

We’re moving slowly between getting four people ready, all the toilet stops, food stops, random distractions (e.g. another vending machine) and having no idea where we are going – it’s painful at times. Even the kids tell me to focus when I get distracted. (Oh look a cherry blossom tree! Could I get a nice pic with it? 🤔)

So, we’ve again reduced our expectations to one to two things to do per day. First day was the viewpoint from the top of Umeda Sky building with all the personalised padlocks (trying to find our names amongst them!) and then Uniqlo where we picked up a few Miffy tees (among other things).

And we came across a shop chock full of gashapon – the toy capsule vending machines. (Another distraction!)

Day 2 we visited Osaka Castle and its surrounds with lots of cherry blossoms 🌸 They are just starting to fall here, which is extra pretty as it looks like falling snow but basically impossible to capture on a camera. We learned two things here:

1. Purchase tickets online in advance, and
2. Kids don’t like museums so don’t waste your money.