Osaka - What a great morning we had!

First up we thought it worth putting up this photo of the Great Barrier Reef from 40,000ft. It looked awesome!

After a `not so great sleep` on very hard beds, we heaed out to explore Osaka with a fin. We decided to go underground and after a quick b`fast of toasted ham, tomato, lettuce sandwich and a cold boiled egg, we strolled through a major shopping arcade. Not being there to shop we just glanced left and right at the windows. However, there was just one shop that made us step in. 3 x super fine merino wool jumpers for mark and 2 x thermal t-shirts for me, we left!!!!! The prices were at the most, half what we pay at home.

From there we were keen to visit the `Floating Gardens`. It is a couple of buildings joined by a circular platform of around 4 stories high. On top of this platform is an open air observation deck. This photo is taken from the ground looking up. We thought it was a great way to get a feel of how big Osaka was and of the general terrain. So off we went. After a couple of escalators to the 3rd floor we were directed to an elevator.

Fortunately we were the only ones in the elevator as once it passed about 10 floors the walls disappeared and it became glass all around. We both said `holy cr%&` and went to grab the rail behind us. Mark clutched on for dear life and I grappled around behind me to no avail. There was no rail on my side and the end result is that i am sure I managed to etch `HELP` in the glass with my fingernails. It was freakin` scary Normally I can brace myself for such things but as we weren`t expecting it we both got quite a shock and did the last half of the 39 floors with our eyes closed and breaking into an instant sweat. It was a VERY long ride!

If that wasn`t enough, once we got off and calmed ourselves by laughing hysterically, we went around the corner to find the next little `fun` installment was a glass escalator that would take us across the void between the buildings and up about 4-5 stories. More hysterical laughter and lots of `you`ve got to be kidding` we braved it and stepped on the journey to the unknown.

This a a photo I took of Mark across the expanse. (yes thats him with his hands holding onto the glass) You can see the top of the escalator below him.

A photo taken east towards where we were staying. In the front right of this pic is the Osaka JR train station we arrived into and then you can see a ferris wheel. we are staying not far from there. FYI - there are about 4 ferris wheels we have seen here so far.