Rice balls and earthquakes

A very Japanese day today!

I’m saved - the Wakayama Toyoko Inn had rice balls for breakfast!  But I’m jumping the gun a bit here.  The day started with an earthquake at 5.30am.  Apparently it measured 6.3 and resulted in a few injuries, but all was well in Wakayama.  It was a peculiar experience, but I wasn’t too bothered as I knew that I was in a modern building and they are built to rock and roll.  So I just stayed there in bed till it stopped rocking and rolling.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t go back to sleep, but when I finally got up I was delighted to find rice balls.

The usually amazingly prompt Japanese train timetable came to grief, so my plans for the day didn’t quite work as I’d hoped as it took me a long time to get back to Osaka.  I met up with Ulla, from my Japanese class and we spent the afternoon shopping, as well as having a lovely lunch of soba noodles.  We visited Kinokuniya, my favourite book shop, but I’m not buying until the end of the trip.  We also had a practice run of meeting at the JR Station in preparation for our journey to Kanazawa tomorrow.  Osaka Station is an insane place and we wanted to make sure that we can get to the right place to start our journey.  I think we also saw Megan Gale doing some modelling.  I don’t actually know what she looks like, but the girls watching the show were all very excited and one of them said ‘Megan’ so I think that’s what happened.

After our shopping day, we were ready for some rest and relaxation, so we went to Spaworld.  This has a number of onsen baths, with one floor of Asian themed baths and one of European themed baths.  This month, the Asian baths were ladies only and the European baths were men only.  Ours also included some outdoor baths, so we were able to soak our tired bodies in hot baths under the stars.  A really lovely experience - and lolling around naked with strangers is not as daunting as it sounds.

At the Doubutsuen-mae station
(Doubutsuen means zoo!)
 

We finished the day out with a mini-dinner of takoyaki (octopus balls) and then made our weary way back to our hotels.  Having turned left at the station instead of right earlier in the day, this time I made it back in one piece.

As I write, I’m waiting for a call from the front desk so I can sort our my washing problem.  Because I took too long to go down and get my washing out of the machine, someone came and put their washing in with my completed washing and started the cycle again.  So I’m waiting, waiting, waiting and very keen to get to bed.

Very excited/nervous about going to Kanazawa tomorrow!  Not sure about my Internet access there, but will keep posting if I can.