It took some time going through all of our photos and I'm still not done with all of them yet either as I have photos from three different cameras on my computer so some might not all be in the right order. Most of my photos from my DSLR will come later as I didn't bring it for the first week during Osaka and Kyoto, instead I had my girlfriend's point and shoot Canon IXUS 90 IS. My memory is also a bit sketchy so things might not be in chronological order so bare with me.
First off, myself Axel and Jesus (international students from Sweden and America respectively) headed off from Gifu to head for Osaka to check in to our hotel then Jesus and I headed off to the airport to pick up my girlfriend and our friends. Due to unforeseen events we ended up being an hour late, I felt so bad but no one was to blame as the train we were on split off at one station and we didn't know we were on the wrong carriage as the first 4 went to the airport and the back for in a totally opposite direction. But all was good when we finally got there though, it felt so good to see my girlfriend again after such a long time.
Afterward we just headed back to the hotel to off load their luggage then it was off to find somewhere to eat and drink. Axel knew of a very good okonomiyaki place but as it was late on a Thursday night it was already closed so instead we hit up this little ramen joint in Dotonbori. We then wanted to find somewhere to drink, preferably an izakaya but none were to be found, instead we just got some beer and wine and the girl's got their drinks and we just headed back to the hotel to drink and get some rest for the next day.
We headed to Kobe, none of us did any research so instead we just walked around hoping to find somewhere we could get some Kobe beef but again we were let down as they were all open for dinner only. Which wasn't good for Axel and Jesus as they had to head back to Gifu later that day since they had some other things going on.
Some funny looking signs.
My girlfriend had carbonara for brunch that day and she said it was really nice. I tried a bit and it was meh for me.
A temple we stumbled upon not far from the station.
It was so nice being able to wash my hands here as the water was so cold and refreshing. A nice change from the high 30 degree days, I was sweating everywhere, even my legs!
The girls, Tuyet and Kim with Mr. Axel himself looking very suave as usual.
We took a break at a close by convenient store and then got directions to go see a Japanese styled garden named Sorakuen garden. The attendant said it was walking distance but HE LIED! it took us at least 20 minutes walking in the blistering heat and when we finally found it people weren't too happy since it was hot and really far.
Here I am arriving at the front and finding out we had to pay 300YEN for entry, at this point Axel and Jesus decided to part us and head back while the girls and I headed in. The people there were nice enough to lend us some fans too.
Some info about the place, just something along the lines of a traditional Japanese garden in the heart of the city. It was too hot to read all of it so we rushed off to find some shade.
At first we thought we got ripped off as we didn't see anything interesting but then we discovered the walking track which lead to the rest of the garden which I thought was really impressive as I really liked the traditional styling of the garden.
Group photo time!
These turtles and koi fishes all started gathering around us as we approached the pond, this kept us entertained for a while.
Very nice looking house.
That's it from Kobe, a bit disappointing overall as I didn't get a chance to get some Kobe beef in my stomach I had planned but it was still nice being able to get to see the temple and Japanese styled garden.
At night it was off to Dotonbori to find some places to eat and drink.
No we didn't eat here but it we had to take a photo of the creative name of the restaurant.
Quite a few restaurants had a faux food display out the front which looked a lot like the real thing and in some cases it was as my girlfriend and her friend found out when they went to touch it.
My and my beautiful girlfriend; Kim. (different to the one ealier, there were 2 Kims on this trip)
The other Kim and Tuyet (Tits) on the right.
We ate at the okonomiyaki place Axel showed us the night before.
Then it was off to explore the place and we found this really cool multi-story store which had everything from imported food to Louis Vuitton bags and some crazy things in between like this pillow which hugs you.
Smirnoff Vodka going for a very low price compared to back home, this would have been about $13.
If you look closely that's a 1.75L bottle of Jack Daniels for about $45.
It started raining so we just headed to a bar, we returned to one we saw earlier which I was keen on going to since it had darts which I really like doing when I drink now (more on that later). Here are our long island ice teas, which would go on to become one of the drinks we would regret having later on.
That place got boring as a poker game took up most of the bar. So we found an izakaya instead, but it wasn't all you can drink so BOO!
More drinks.
Gyoza!
Our food for the night.
We then went searching for place we could get our drink on and we stumbled upon an Irish pub with a couple of foreigners so we decided this was it and we stayed.
Leaving a little something behind with a coaster stuck on the wall in memory of us being there.
More drinks and another long island ice tea.
After this it was just a really fun time that I have trouble remembering some parts of hahaha but it was a great night, I met some great people and we ended up taking over the bar as we started pumping hardstyles which could be heard from the streets since he had speakers outside too. The bartender's name was Shinji and he was a cool guy, I kind of promised I would come back the next day but we didn't want to even go near alcohol again the next night. But it's a place I'll definitely go back to when I'm back in Osaka.
That's it for day 1, check back in tomorrow for day 2 of my tour of Japan.
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