Day 20: Sightseeing in Osaka

Yesterday we bought the Osaka unlimited pass, which gives free admission to multiple attractions and free subway travel. Today we put it to the test and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my camera is refusing to read the SD card I use for posting on the blog, so I can't put up any pictures from today. :( It recognizes my other main SD card, though, so I can still take pictures. The next two posts will have pictures for sure.
In the morning, we rode to the Osaka Museum of History. I didn't know much about it before we got there. The building itself was massive. The exhibits begin on the 10th floor, and you make your way down through the 7th floor before exiting. The 10th floor had a lot of information about ancient Osaka- 5th century- and some recreated hallways from the Naniwa Palace (from that time period). The subsequent floors gave more information about Osaka from that period up to modern day. One of my favorite parts of the museum, actually, was that to go from floor to floor, one took an escalator next to some windows which gave a spectacular view of Osaka Castle and its grounds. I really enjoyed the museum though. Partly because there were hardly any people there (a rarity here) and it was air-conditioned. :P
After the museum, we returned to the bay area (see yesterday's post) and took a cruise around Osaka bay in a replica of the Santa Maria. There were so many ships coming in and out of the port; it was cool to watch some of the big ones being loaded and unloaded. From the boat, we could see the Cosmo Tower, which we went to next. The Cosmo Tower is actually the "Osaka Prefectural Sakishima Government Building" or something like that, but who cares. It has an observatory on the 55th floor which was covered by our pass. To get there, we rode a glass elevator to the 51st floor (mom loved it, I was a tiny bit nervous), then took a long, steep escalator to the top. The Cosmo Tower is the tallest building in western Japan, which I think means from Kyoto westward. There was an excellent 360 view of Osaka from the top! Osaka is a really huge city, but it's more spread out than Tokyo, so it doesn't feel so intimidating in some ways.
Well, tomorrow we leave for Tokyo... So hard to believe we only have two days left in Japan. I will be sad to leave, but of course, nothing quite compares to home. :)