Another day, another castle

Osaka, Japan Today was mostly spent going from Hiroshima to Osaka via one of the lovely Shinkansen bullet trains. It’s the only way to travel.

We weren’t planning any major sightseeing today, but thought we’d drop by Osaka Castle, just to pay our respects.

Today’s castle is a 1931 version of what was the largest castle in Japan in 1580, a military stronghold from which a powerful shogun united all of Japan under his command. It’s had its ups and downs, depending on the political winds, but is now made of concrete and safe from fire and lightning. Note the massive wall fortifications.

The crowds were astonishing, all enhanced by the high heat and dripping humidity. There are always long queues of school children on field trips at any historical site we have visited and today was no exception. We relaxed in the shade and people-watched.

Don’s Food Corner

When we got to the hotel, the room wasn’t ready so we slipped into the hotel café and indulged in what we thought would be recognizable food. Namely, pizza and a cheeseburger.

The pizza was presented on a paper-thin crust. It had all the requisite ingredients: tomato sauce, cheese, and some fresh basil leaves, but it had absolutely no flavor. We noticed a Domino’s a few blocks away while in the taxi from the train station. We did not go that low, but sometimes you just want a familiar kind of pizza.

I had the cheeseburger with fries. The fries were excellent. The hamburger was a little weird. The problem was that the meat was ground very, very finely, making the burger too compacted, although it was actually pretty tender and juicy. The rest of the burger was piled high with lettuce, tomato and a “special sauce” of dubious origins.

The weirdest part, however, was that the burger was draped with something that looked like very thin slices of almost uncooked bacon. I removed this element from the burger.

Later when walking to the subway to catch a train to the castle, we spied a McDonald’s. Hmm. Too late. But very tempting.