A Japanese Christmas and a Thai New year.

[drron]

Now I thought for a while this was a statue of a bird.


But then it moved.


The Royal Park Hotel has some old trams repurposed.




A whole lot of flowering plums surrounding a green space.

 

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I was impressed with the floral displays around this building.






Then I looked up and it all made sense.


Going back to the hotel on the shuttle you pass a large temple complex.

 

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And tonight a 4.30pm sunset.

 

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Time to go to dinner. I suggested the yakitori place but it failed as our son found a much better yakitori place a little further away. When we arrived it did indeed look a much better yakitori place and it even had a decent wine list. Unfortunately it also had a sign on the door saying fully booked tonight.
So we back tracked and went into a shopping street as usually a few restaurants. Well there were but most had between 2 and 10 seats so we weren't going to fit. We passed a pizza place which I pointed out and the grandkids thought it looked good but again overruled. After about 15 minutes the pizza restaurant became the only real choice. So in we went. There was an English menu but the server didn't speak any English so pointing was the way to order. Thre wasn't that much English on t he English menu
An unusual place.




And I had a beer.


2 of the children wanted ginger Ale. Here it is.


But it really was ginger ale.
The pizzas appeared 2 at a time. But there were excellent and some that you wouldn't get back home.
Mushroom.


I had the spicy fish roe. And it was spicy.


Our son had the vegetable pizza.


2 of the kids had the Neapolitan with an egg. They both said one of the best that they have had.


The others had the margherita pizza.


Turned out to be a great family evening.
As I was leaving the man and woman doing the cooking asked how it was. One simple word caused them to celebrate. Oishii.

 

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The shopping street at night.








And the garden lights back at the hotel.

 

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Today was moving day to Osaka. We planned to leave on the 1320 shuttle to Kyoto station so as not to be too early for checkin at Osaka.
Today we had a private room for Breakfast.


My first plate.


And today the egg chef was making Eggs Benedict. When you order 2 you get 2 plates.


They weren't that good.
For the morning I walked the backstreets near the hotel ending up at the shopping street.

 

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Today was recycle collection day. People came ou of their houses dropping their bags at a central point.




Back past the castle and into the shopping street.




All sorts of shops.

 

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We caught a semi rapid train from Kyoto to Osaka station. Crowded. One younger woman gave Mrsdrron a seat but I stood until Shin Osaka. not very comfortable.
Not far from the Station to the Hilton. We had an executive room and the family standard rooms. I had booked interconnecting rooms for the family but at checkin said non available as they couldn't find a request. I did have the original email which clearly said interconnecting rooms booked. So they ended up on a high floor with rooms side by side.
However I made a travel mistake as the senior rate I booked didn't come with breakfast. We of course got it but elected to eat in the restaurant for a family breakfast.
So to our room.










our gift.


And the view.






But there was a car park view.

 

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We then set out to explore the hotel. First to the second floor to check out the restaurants.In fact it ended up a good place to check out the lobby display.















then next door to the Hilton annexe where they had a baccarat display.

 

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And then the view from the lounge.


It was a real zoo. We had arrived a little before the 1730 start and at 1730 a staff member came to our table and said we would have to leave after an hour. We didn't.

 

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Breakfast in the restaurant was the zoo of all zoos. As well as the breakast restaurant they seated people in 2 of their specialty restaurants. We were appropriately put in the wine room.




My first plate.


It was a very big buffet but so crowded asnd dishes emptying fast. I didn't enjoy it as much as the last 2 hotels. But I did get pictures of most of the buffet.

 

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And the last of breakfast.

 

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After breakfast we went to a couple of department stores. There are 3 in Osaka station. First we went to the Hanshin department store. From the station you enter their food hall. We think these are very interesting places. Our first stop was at the alcohol section.


Not a bad price. $A34 and at Dans $32.99.


Now Mrsdrron loved this bottle.


I was interested in how a Dornfelder rose would taste as I really liked the White Rock Dornfelder from Tasmania. So we bought a bottle. I hope it is worth it as we had to queue for 30 minutes to buy it. So don't let people think the Japanese are not into wine as most were buying champagne.


Next were their version of Christmas cakes. The CWA would not approve.






And who would think you could make sweet potato into a Christmas dish by itself. these are all sweet potato.

 

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More assorted food.












And a line at one of the cake places.


Then we went to the Hankyu Department store. this was way busier so they had an In door and an Exit door. both doors were policed. A huge craft and pottery floor.




Mrsdrron took a fancy to this plate.


But at ~ $1000 I became a grinch.

 

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It is interesting the characters popular in Japan. they do have quite a few Snoopy shops.








On the same floor they had their version of a Christmas market which was extremely popular.

 

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Of course we then headed to the food hall of Hankyu. Making red bean buns.






The fruit and vegetable selection always looks great. But expensive.

 

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And for 1 strawberry from 46 to ~$12.


And ~ $280 for a Kg of beef.

 

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The next morning for breakfast we got our own restaurant.




after breakfast I decided it was time to buy our train tickets from Osaka to Kanazawa and then back to Tokyo. I went online where there were no tickets left for the trains we wanted. Had I made another travel mistake? So immediately I went to Osaka station and the ticket office. another half hour wait in a queue but i got an agent who spoke very good English and instead of a ticket for each train I got a ticket from Osaka to Tokyo and can stopover any where between. Plus reserved tickets for the 2 trains I really wanted. He explained that only a few tickets are sold online and most are sold at ticket offices around Japan. Stress relieved.
I walked out of the ticket office, turned left and there was Daimaru so of course I went in. Seemed a bit more upmarket than the other 2. So once again a food hall.




And it was Christmas Eve so what did they have? buckets of fried chicken of course. Kfc hasn't got the whole market. i think these ones might be better quality.


And the had lotds of fried chicken.


I hadn't seen tomatoes boxed before. Several sizes of tomato but in each box they were the same size.




Beautiful broad beans.


And carrots packaged in 1,2 or 3 carrots.