Sunday, May 11, 2014

Absolute Tourists in Osaka

Current City:  Osaka

Today was a day of experiences!  We were absolute tourists today.  We visited the aquarium, rode the big wheel, checked out the history museum, and then ended the day at the art museum. 



The most exciting undersea creature that I wanted to see was the whale shark.  I love aquariums.  There are so many interesting things to see, but it also makes me a bit sad because I start thinking...(1) are the sea creatures happy?  (2)  Do they like living in aquariums?  (3)  Do they like people looking at them all day?  (4)  Are they being cared for properly?  Anyhow, questions upon questions constantly run through my head when I visit any aquarium. 




There is a deal where you can purchase a combined ticket of the aquarium and a ride around on the big wheel.  It provided a great view of the city.  And there was an audio tour guide that played constantly as we went around.  There were not so many people riding on the big wheel today, but, instead of passengers, we found some huge stuffed animals riding in the cars after us.


Pooh Bear riding the Big Wheel
There was also a deal to visit the Osaka Museum of History and the Osaka Castle across the way.  This building is beautiful.  The glass ball connects the museum and a television station.  The one thing I really appreciate about the museums that we have been visiting is that there are volunteers that explain things to you.  The volunteer below taught us a game, which tested our knowledge of the information we learned in the museum.  It was quite fun.



The sun finally came out!  The science museum and the art museum are right next to each other, but they were both closing at the same time, so we chose to view art over science.  The exhibit that was showing:  Andreas Gursky.  The regular exhibit was just as impressive:  Kwak Duck-Jun.


It feels so good to be a tourist and do touristy things!  Today, especially...