Day 12: Umeda Sky Building

Lunch at Piole in Himeji
Lunch at Piole in Himeji

After a small lunch at Dondontei in the Piole mall in Himeji (I’d forgotten what I had), I took the Shinkansen back to Osaka. Before moving to the hotel, I wanted to buy some decent headphones and a travel adapter in one of the electronics stores (which ended up being BIC Camera). I bought the Technics EAH-AZ60. And of course, I wanted to do a bit of sightseeing. Since I always love to go up high, I went to the Umeda Sky Building. I bought the ticket spontaneously, there wasn’t a long line that evening. The entrance fee is a bit more expensive at 2000 ¥, but you get a great view.

The Umeda Sky Building

Dieses 170m hohe Hochhaus im Stadteil Umeda in Osaka bietet eine grandiose Aussicht über die Stadt. Zwei Türme sind über Brücken und Rolltreppen miteinander verbunden. Oberhalb dieses ringförmigen Verbindungsstücks befindet sich das Floating Garden Observatory. Die untere Etage beherbergt ein Café und Sitzgelegenheiten, und natürlich viele Fenster. Im inneren gibt es eine kleine Ausstellung mit Weltraumthemen und wie der Gedanke hinter dem Gebäude so ist. Das braucht man aber nicht um daran Spaß zu haben…

This 170m high skyscraper in the Umeda district of Osaka offers a magnificent view of the city. Bridges and escalators connect two towers. Above this ring-shaped connecting piece is the Floating Garden Observatory. The lower floor houses a café and seating, and of course lots of windows. Inside is a small exhibition with space themes and the idea behind the building. But you don’t need to know all that to enjoy the place…

View from the cafe – the river is the Yodo

Another escalator takes you to the open-air platform. Since, in contrast to the evening before, the weather was great and still quite warm, I had to go up! You have a great view without any annoying glass surfaces. The wind is pretty strong though, so you should hold on tight to any bags, hats, and scarves!

View from the open-air platform

I stayed for about two hours, had (at least) one beer, and then made my way to the hotel, which was very close by.

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