April 8

Matt had a really rough hour this morning early but finally fell back to sleep and when he woke up, he was feeling much better. I’m completely back to normal and not feeling any signs of sickness at all. Thank God. I talked Matt into using his cough drops and taking ibuprofen and he acquiesced.  This is the latest morning for us. Our rendezvous time was 8:45 and we did not get out earlier than that. Once Dan and Mohan joined us, we headed out for 7-11 lattes again. This 7-11 did not really have anything for breakfast that Matt and I wanted but I bought a weird Acai smoothie and we shared. It made me feel weird and I regretted it. 

We are headed to the Osaka Aquarium today. Getting there was easy and there weren’t tons of people. The aquarium was really nice. Very well put together and we saw many amazing fish from all over the world. The jelly fish exhibition was crazy. There is a gigantic ferris wheel here and we toyed with the idea of riding but decided it wasn’t necessary. We are doing a lot of skyscrapers to see the city and it really didn’t offer much else. 

It was lunch time and we decided to stop at a restaurant that served Yakiniku. Similar to a Korean BBQ place in the states, you grill beef at a grill in the center of the table. We ordered some vegetables too. They taste like heaven to me. I’m really missing vegetables. The food was really good to me. Matt says it isn’t his favorite way to cook beef. 

After lunch, we headed out to visit a couple of temples, Tenno-ji and Shitenno-ji. Tenno-ji is known for having buddhas that are made out of the ashes of dead people. Both temples were pretty small compared to those we visited in Kyoto. We didn’t stay very long. We stopped at a local park on the way back to the house. Everything is so beautiful under the blue sky and sun. I wish we were going to have more of these days but I think this is the last one. The last two days we are here are overcast and rainy. But I am enjoying the moment very much. We watched a Japanese girl and a monkey do some tricks in the park. All very Japanese and a cultural experience for sure.

Back at our place, we had some tea and rested up a bit before heading out to TeamLab Botanical Garden Osaka at Nagai Park. 

TeamLab Botanical Garden was like an other world experience. Felt like we were experiencing an outer space event. The garden has all different sorts of lights and patterns that interact with the presence of humans. Very fascinating. After the garden, we walked to a place Mohan had found only to discover they were closed. We went to another restaurant on the strip there that served noodle dishes. I was able to get cabbage and bean sprouts rather than noodles. I enjoyed it.

After dinner, Matt and I headed back. We are very ready to call it a day and I’m tired of being cold. I got really cold walking through the garden. I’m using my “Allow and Accept” mantras to manage the days of cold here. Dan and Mohan stayed in the city for a bit longer to do some karaoke. Dan said it wasn’t a very positive experience. I’m very glad I chose going to bed. These days are long with over ten miles of walking every day. My body is feeling it. 

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