The rain that dogged us all day yesterday followed us down the coastline. It was VERY rough at sea for a good part of last night but thankfully we arrived into Kyoto today to a beautiful sunshine day. The ship didn't dock until 11am this morning so our tour to Osaka Castle didn't leave until 1.00pm that gave us plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast in Compass Rose Restaurant followed by a light lunch at the pool bistro.
The drive to Osaka took us almost an hour but it was an enjoyable drive. Osaka is the second largest city in Tokyo with a population of seven million and it is hard to decipher the boundary between Kyoto and Osaka.
Osaka Castle is in important landmark in Japan. It was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1583 and was in use until 1845. The five story castle is really quite spectacular. To reach the top floor we go by elevator to the fifth floor and then have to ascend three steep flights of steps to reach the top. From here we have spectacular views in every direction over Osaka.
The many hectares of gardens surrounding the Castle are beautifully maintained and the azaleas are in full bloom. The wall surrounding the castle is built from massive rocks and Philip is standing in front of the biggest rock. Heaven only knows how many men it took to stand it in place.
We really enjoyed todays tour and it was great that we were allowed a lot of time to explore the castle at our leisure.
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