[Osaka2013] Là-haut, là-haut, très loin dans l'espace.

[note: I just reread the entry and I sound rather grumpy in it. It's the late hour! Sorry for the grumpiness!] Let's see… today I went and did something touristy - visited the Namba Gardens, which is apparently pretty much the biggest thing to see besides the castle. Or at least it's in every guide thing for Osaka. Essentially it's a mall with some green stuff spread on different levels and on the rooftops. ( +2 - some green and some handprints ) What totally gets me is the fact that there are tons of parking lots around Namba (and pretty much everywhere else also)… ( +1 - see, parking lots right next door ) … and the air is rather polluted right now, after about four hours outside I could feel my throat and it wasn't all that fun. Yet, bikes are a huge thing around here. I mean, huuuuuugggggeeee. There are cyclists everywhere, there are bikes parked everywhere. ( +1 - example of random side street - see all the bikes and stuff? ) There is also the metro and the railway system and they seem rather well developed. Why are there still so many cars and such huge streets? It's one of those huge mysteries to me. Then again, people also own cars in Paris when never-ending gridlocks are, well, almost never-ending.

[Osaka2013] Not quite suspended gardens.

I found these rather interesting "backyards" yesterday. I'm standing on street level on the perpendicular street and that's where the "backyards" are but, when you look at them closely, you can see they're actually on the second level on their little street. I found them rather interesting because they're not really used for gardening nor for little playgrounds for children, they're just there… kind of like a bit of wasted green space inside the city. That said, most smaller side streets look a bit different.

Good stuff, man, good stuff.

[clearing out uploaded photos that were never posted] My sis knows how to make fancy macarons from scratch. And she let me be her little helper in the kitchen (hey, licking bowls clean is a very important job). Who can beat that? ( +3 - cheesecake flavoured biscuit - why not ) … and this was the final result.

[Osaka2013] Where is my spaceship?

Here and there… ( +4 - right and left )

[Osaka2013] Wait. I don't have a single SW icon?

I quite like a Saturday night in. ( +2 - not quite Tatoine )

[Osaka2013] The life of udon.

There are probably Japanese grandmas who are turning in their graves, moaning about my butchering of Japanese culinary art… but who cares! At the local shop I found this set for udon making that contains broth and udon and what can only described as a pinch of some kind of meat (seriously, like 2 grams, not even 3) and two bits of green onion. … but that wasn't going to cut it as decent dinner, so I also found this soup veggie mix thing and some kind of seafood (?). In my head they went together perfectly and, heck, who can resist a little package of seafood that proudly announces that it contains 81g of food. 81! Not 80! Not 82! 81 grams. ( +2 - 81 grams and not one extra )