To Osaka with the Shinkansen

Today we moved our base over Osaka. Which lead to a ride with the legendary Sinkansen. So what would it be like to travel with one of these legendary trains.

For one it is not cheap if you got a regular single ticket. And you don’t even get to keep it at the end. And of course the ticket is only valid on the lines serviced by JR. But if you use these you can use the ticket on the way to and from the Sinkansen. To get to the plattform you go through the same barriers like going to the local trains.

On this train as opposed to the Lokal trains you are allowed to eat on the train so one can buy a bento box and have lunch on the train. Should you be in a hurry – don’t worry. There will be some sold on the train.

Afterwards it’s up to the plattform and queuing at the appropriate markings for the train to arrive. As we are starting at the beginning of the line first everyone gets out and then ladies in pink enter the train.

Cleaning crew on speed. Then it’s on to the train. As we don’t have reserved seats we got to pick some that seem to be good or odd the 3+2 seating arrangement. At least the 2 seats are on a swiveling mount so if you want to you can sit even more in a group. About the 3 seats in a row I’m not so sure. But I think they are turnable too.

So ne need to get the few special seats the are configured like you want them to. As noon was nearing there was a mobile POS going through the train in case you still need to buy yourself some lunch.

Our trip provided a few nice views of the Fuji as well as some different landscapes including bigger and smaller places.

In Osaka our first stop was the hotel. After we got rid off our luggage (in storage as we are way to early to get into our rooms) it was time to get our tourist 3 day passes and do some initial sightseeing.

Yes it’s time for Christmas after all. So at Fun Fun Plaza they built a german Weihnachtsmarkt. At least it was not opened yet. But hot wine was available from a shop nearby.

But our goal was actually to go up and get an overview over the area from up top.

And there where two very interesting buildings to be seen from here:

Yes the first one contains a chapel. A copy the original is located in Belgium. The floors to the sides are actually a hotel which tries to emulate a european old royal estate (it might even be Schönbrunn but I’m not sure). And you can get married in the chapel.

The other building shows what some architects do if you got the ground but need to encorporate a highway. You just build the road through the building. Yes this is an actual highway you see here.

With that the official part was over and we made our way back to the hotel to refresh and get something for dinner.

Part of the group was invited by the tour guides the other one had to wait a day. As I was part of the waiting group we went through a mall and decided to get some prepared food on the go that we then warmed up in the microwave of the hotel.

As it still was a bit early to go to bed (7 o’clock) we went back out to discover the area by night and take some pictures of the skyline.