Osaka Castle and Dotombori

We were up early as usual. The ship wasn't docking at Osaka until after 11am, so we spent the morning in the solarium hanging out in the hot tub. There's  also a very nice coffee shop onboard that opens at 5.30am and has become our goto place first thing.

Our excursion today started at the Dotombori shopping district . It was exactly what I'd imagined a Japanese shopping street to be like, and I bought too much stuff.

After that, we went to Osaka Castle. The main tower is 8 storeys tall,  so it was a long way to the top. The weather here is pretty hot, so after all that climbing we found a nice rooftop bar at a nearby building and had an ice cold drink, sitting in the breeze.  The castle complex was lovely, but I wish we'd had more time to look around.  

The hot day really took it out of us and we didn't have the energy to stay awake for the Taiko drumming show and went to bed at 7pm.  Party animals aren't we?