Japan day 11 - goodbye, shopping and castle

Saying goodbye to those on the 10 day trip, it was really sad as we had gotten to know each other quite well on the trip. Wrote in each other's travel journals before we said goodbye. 

Dragon Temple with Helena, Helena was one of those who took part in the ten-day trip, but she was going to be in Japan for a little longer, so we went to the Dragon Temple first.

Then we looked in various shops, and went to starbucks, I thought I'd ordered chai tea but ordered chai coffee, and I don't drink coffee, so I missed a bit. Here we met Cyntia, who joined us and looked around the shops and the market square. Time passed quickly and in order to be able to participate in the remaining activities, I had to leave. Then said goodbye to Cyntia and Helena, and went back to the hotel to meet the remaining group.

When everyone had arrived back at the hotel and sorted themselves out a bit, the rest of us went on the 14-day trip. Was less than half of the group that started of 22 people. Sad for those who left because you get to know each other well by being together 24/7, even if you're mostly with someone, it's nice, but it was possible to be with everyone so it's a nice group of people. 

Here we changed our guide to someone called Sarah who was to accompany us on the last four days. Was nice to meet her too.

Then We went to Osaka castle, here our guide talked about the area around and outside the castle, before we had to buy a ticket and stand in line to enter the castle itself. Here I mostly went with my roommate Samantha. It cost NOK 600 to enter the castle.

A little about Osaka castle: It is a castle, with a viewing area at the top and a museum on all floors inside the castle itself. 

Osaka Castle was originally completed in 1586 as a display of power and grandeur by the samurai warlord and ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi after achieving his goal of unifying Japan. The impressive castle took just three years to complete, thanks to the hard work of around 100,000 workers. Read more about this here: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/a-brief-history-of-osaka-castle 

Then we had dinner in shinsekai, here the group split up, there were many who wanted sushi so most went and ate it. Those of us who didn't feel like sushi or anything else that were on the same place the other people went, there was Samantha and another in the group called Phillip and me. They are very nice. We went to a "sumo wrestling restaurant" or so it looked like on the outside, here we were hungry and wanted to try something different so we did. 

There was an incredible amount of choice here so it took a while to order, I was very hungry! 

We changed things up with something different, including: Pasta, omelette, dumplings, sausages, etc. 

After this we had a look around the shinsekai shopping district, before most of the group gathered and played at the arcade. Here you could shoot candy and get the candy you shot down. It was possible to throw ninja stars on the target, which I thought was really cool! Samantha and I threw at the same time and I hit the most, actually. But not good enough for a prize. Would have liked to have tried this several times. It was a lot of fun! 

All in all a sad but good day. I was sad that i had to say goodby to the others, because I know that there are some I will never see again, and some with whom I have made quite good contact on the trip and have thought about visiting outside of this trip. Everyone is from different countries, so it's not just, just to go and meet each other. But you make it. It was fun to see the dragon temple with Helena, and it was exciting in Osaka castle with museums stuff and a great view. Good dinner and activities with nice people.