September 12th, 2010: On our final impromptu weekend trip we took a train out to Himeji Castle in the Hyōgo Prefecture. We stopped in Kobe on the way to the castle, but didn't spend too much time there; we only ate lunch in Kobe on the ride back.
Himeji Castle is probably the most famous castle in Japan, so we figured we should go see it. Unfortunately, it was under construction when we were there and the scaffolding wouldn't be gone until Spring 2014. Regardless, we walked around the castle grounds and took lots of pictures (including lots I can use for game textures). We also overheard that the castle grounds are stunning in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, so I'll have to go back some day to check that out.
After perusing the castle grounds, we headed over to the Himeji City Zoo, which is literally attached to the castle area. It costs 200 Yen admission, and there are a decent amount to see inside. There were some pretty nice animals, like polar bears, a giraffe, an elephant, lots of birds, and red pandas. Sadly, most of these animals looked awfully depressed, especially the polar bears who seemed to be tortured by the 90 degree weather. Surprisingly, the penguins seemed to be enjoying themselves and the piglets were squealing cutely. It was nice to see a bunch of animals that weren't pigeons or deer, even if some of them didn't want to be there.
We left the zoo and headed back to Osaka via train. We stopped in Kobe briefly but decided not to venture towards the harbor. Instead, we decided to eat at a restaurant in the station that was advertising beef and onions on rice for pretty cheap. I almost gave in and bought a McGriddle from McDonald's across the way, but I'm happy I decided to go with the beef bowl.
Next time I'll recap our second and last Tokyo trip, including Tokyo Game Show, arcades, another trip to SEGA Joypolis, and lots of new Pokémon. Hopefully it won't take me as long to write it as this one did!
