OF CASTLES, TREES AND LOTS OF BEER

Sounds like a strange combi, but it all happened on our last day in Osaka. It was a great (read: tipsy) way to end the trip.

THE SHOPPING IN OSAKA

Shopping this time round was sparse and in-between, usually while the little pea was asleep so it happened at all kinds of really odd hours.

Orange Street was my kind of street though.

Full of small independents.

And old favourites.

The mandatory "I was in Osaka" shot, though I found the place too touristy and disappointing.

The reason why I love going to the shops in Japan, even if I seldom end up buying a lot.

At our all-time-favourite. Good ideas for rogue babies while mummies speed-shop.

Honey, I shrunk the Muji house.

Now I need to figure out how to shrink myself, because I want to move in.

As I was editing I was thinking, this travelogue is seriously in danger of becoming a baby blog *lol*

A PERFECTLY ORDINARY DAY

I wanted to start off my Osaka posts with the perfect day.

As all perfect days go, this one was bright and sunny, with a little welcoming spring breeze. There were good food, uncrowded spaces and random walks of no particular destination in mind (very baby-led).

A late lunch at Truck, a furniture and cafe place we've been wanting to go for a long time (try their 'Bird' rice and donuts). We were lucky to be one of the few customers and lingered for a long time. I've heard that the queue goes on for hours during the weekends.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the neighbourhood (tummy happy with food) and found the nicest little playground by a school. It was nothing special by Japanese standards (believe me, we did a lot of playgrounds during our trip there) but there were these little pockets of green... ...hundreds of thousands of dandelions and clovers and little wild flowers growing un-manicured in and around it. 

All these unfortunately doesn't make for a very exciting post, but it was to me a completely charming end to the most ordinary of days.

Let's hope for more trips like these. 

@ Truck Furniture Store & Bird Coffee

OH KYOTO

My aunt messaged me last night to say that my photos made her miss Japan so much, which reminds me that I should remember to upload more. 

Here's the rest before I move on to Osaka. What can I say? Kyoto, you're still one of my favourites.

LUNCH IN A PUBLIC BATHHOUSE

The sheer number of interesting cafes in Kyoto was so mind-boggling, I think we could have spent our entire trip cafe-hopping if we had wanted to.

But of course trying to do our usual nonbiri coffee time was impossible with a little one, so I settled for the few that really caught my eye.

This one was in an old public bathhouse. Isn't the interior beautiful?

@cafe sarasa nishijin