The throat tickle I got earlier in the week developed into a full blown sore throat. Nooo. A prepared an amazing breakfast with croissants, pizza toast, oranges, white asparagus soup, and yogurt. She spoils me. We decided not to go to Nara Deer Park today, but to stay in Osaka since I was worried how much time we’d have. We went to Expo Park and Expo City! Expo City is a gigantic shopping complex that had just opened at the end of November.

The complex is about north of the city. After trains and a monorail, we dropped my bag off a locker there. Herds of people streaming from the train station and it was only 10 am! We went to the park first. As soon as you exited the train station, you could see the huge Tower of the Sun. It’s 70 m tall with a diameter of 20 m. Big. The park still had a couple fall leaves left as well. We checked out a waterfall and a cool bridge. The park was huge! The biggest park I’ve seen in Japan so far and quite nice. Many flowers, grass, bird watchers, and families playing. While we were walking, I really started to notice that I had a fever. Got the achy bones feeling, especially in my knees. I just walked slowly and the cool air helped. We spent a little over two hours in the park and only saw a small bit. It was interesting to see the plaques commemorating where countries had their exhibitions back in 1970.

We attempted to get lunch at Expo City. The mass of people had only gotten worse. We found a food area on the map, but each restaurant had ginormous lines. We ended waiting by the Bandai Character Bakery which was Kapibarasan themed. Very cute! After a short wait, we were able to get some food - around 1:30 pm now. I desperately wanted to eat and sit down at this point, whew. After lunch, we passed by the Gundam Cafe, modeled after the one in Akihabara, Tokyo, with two Gundam statues battling it out, and went to the world’s first Pokemon gym. I didn’t pay to enter because it was expensive and you have to pay extra for each game to even participate. Plus it is all in Japanese so I wouldn’t understand anything. I did finally get to take a picture with some Pokemon though!

We stopped by the Osaka English Village where you could practice your English in various situations i.e. as a flight attendant, but again the tickets were so expensive, we decided not to do it. We spent the rest of the day going shopping! I had plenty things to get people for Christmas. The Expo City mall was huge - three floors that were massive. Probably one of the biggest malls I’ve been in. A showed me lots of cool Japanese shops! I got a gift for my gift exchange party next week. I had to keep taking lots of breaks though. The mall was hot and it made my fever feel worse. I ended up buy some medicine and taking it, but it barely had an effect.

The toilets were pretty awesome. They had a whole nursing room for mothers with diaper tables, and a extra toilet room for kids with a small sink and toilet. After about 4 hours, we joined the flood of people leaving. The lights of the tower had been switched on and now it creepily followed us in the dark. We decided to head to Osaka Station to be able to do purikura after dinner. We got conveyor belt sushi in a restaurant that was really tucked away in the station! It took us like 15 minutes to find it. Afterward, we went to HEP FIVE which another mall and entertainment place. They even have a red Ferris wheel on top. A helped me get my first purikura! In the first photo, my face is super unprepared and hair crazy from where I let it out of the bun. Second photo, not much better. It was all so quick! Then you got to decorate your photos while being timed as well. We managed to get a pretty natural looking one. All the options were so extensive. I definitely want to try again now that I’m better prepared. Thanks A for taking me!

We hurried back to the station so that I could catch my train to Kyoto and then catch my night bus home. A came to my train and even waved me goodbye. Wah, my body was done. Once on the bus, I slept 6 hours straight through all the lights and stops, only waking up at 4 am shortly before I had to get off. I biked home, called off from work and fell into bed. Bleh, fevers.