11.5.19 Homesickness, Cycling and Surprising Onsen

Cycling in Japan

So today for the first time breakfast at the new hotel in Osaka. I have the choice between Asian and European breakfast. Today I'll start with Asian and tomorrow I'll try the European one. After that, I'll pick up my bike that I rented until 6 p.m. tonight. I want to get a different perspective and explore the city with my beloved bike. And I can confirm that there was only one tricky situation at the beginning, when I didn't pay attention to the left side traffic and turned the wrong way. But I was able to make an agreement with the other cyclist, of course I waited for him. Otherwise, everything is running in a chaotic order. Chaotic, because apparently as a cyclist you can go through red lights, but otherwise you just have to stay on the left side, then nothing can happen to you. At first, I was riding around without a plan and then I visited the harbor and then I rode back towards Osaka Castle with the feeder river. Then I enjoyed my lunch (noodle soup) in the shade of the castle and then took a 2-hour break to plan my further time here in Japan. Tomorrow, I'll go to the onsen in Osaka that I found on the way, and then to the Osaka Aquarium. After five hours of cycling, I arrived at the hotel relatively tired and very sweaty. I actually wanted to go and pick myself up and go to bed, but then I accidentally ended up on the second floor where there was a crowd of people. I wondered what was going on and then I asked someone and it turned out that our hotel has its own onsen that you can visit three times a day. So I took the time, just like the Japanese take time for their body, and went to the onsen bath. It was very nice and warm and felt really good for my muscles. Great.