Korea-Japan, Day Fifteen: Unwinding in Osaka

Today was all about unwinding. There was no plan (well for me anyway: my friends were off to gorge themselves on meat again), no page in the guidebook bookmarked and no leaflets left describing where to go or what to do. Leaving my camera and guidebook in the hotel, I picked up my much neglected reading book and headed out to where I thought a park or public space might be.

Namba Parks is an artificial bit of greenery situated on top and within a shopping complex and transit hub. That's not to say it's not a nice place to relax and chill out; it was certainly sufficiently secluded for me to plant myself and bask in the glorious sun for an hour this morning. But after a few chapters I decided that I was looking for somewhere a bit busier in order to get in a spat of people watching as I read.

So I headed back to Dotombori and the crowded Ebisubashi bridge where I was immediately greeted by a street entertainer. After watching him do his thing I headed toward Amerikamura, much trendier during the day (punks and all) in order to check out a halal restaurant in the area.

After meeting up with my pals in the hotel I headed back out to Ebisubashi for a couple of more hours of reading and people watching. The weather was perfect for this and footfall at a maximum. I suddenly realised how much I liked Osaka.

We spent another hour or so wondering around Simsubashi, after which we headed to the south of Dotombori in order to catch an early dinner and partake in a cheesecake mission (which was quite weird by the way - super light and fluffy with no biscuit base, I think I had way more than I should have).

The only thing I had left to do was to pack for the last time and grab some rest. We have an early start tomorrow as we finally catch our flight home.