As most of our packing was done last night, just a last few items needed to be tossed into our suitcases before being ready to go.  We were pleasantly surprised to have received 2 bottles of water for free each day, but only drank half of them, so into my suitcase the others went!  I bought a new suitcase for this trip, the kind with 4 wheels that spins in all directions, so the extra weight was not going to be an issue, especially since Kenji was kind enough to suggest getting a taxi rather than navigating the subway (and stairs!) to get to Osaka Train Station.

Mom and I picked up a little breakfast at the grocery store across the street of bananas, a pastry for me and we shared a tea sandwich type sandwich of ham, cheese and lettuce that we ate in our room as we finished our blogs.  We met the guys in the lobby, checked out and left our luggage with the front desk as we planned to get lunch before departing Osaka.  We can't check into the hotel in Kyoto until 3 pm, so rather than drag our luggage around Kyoto, we left it at the Osaka hotel and killed time going to get lunch.

I did research last night about affordable places to get shabu shabu (raw meat and veggies cooked in broth) for lunch.  I found a place not too far away and went down to the front desk and asked them to call and make a reservation for us.  The kind gentleman did and explained that the restaurant said they'd only hold the reservation for 15 minutes, so please don't be late.  We actually ended up there about 20 minutes early.  After following Google Maps' directions (a Godsend this trip, truly!) we found ourselves going into a small mall type shopping center and right to the door of the restaurant.  I went in and let them know who we were and they showed us to a table for 6 with circular cut-outs in front of each seat and a heating element at the bottom of the cut-out.

A very friendly woman explained the menu to us in very good English and we took our time perusing and deciding.  In the end Leo & I ordered the same thing, the premium beef loin, but he has a spicy broth and I chose the bonito (dried fish flakes) broth.  In hindsight, I wouldn't order that one again.  I thought it would be more flavorful than plain old vegetable broth, but I was dealing with the wet flakes the whole time (not wanting to eat them, which is ok to do, I just prefer not to).  Mom got the beef belly with vegetable broth and Kenji got the premium beef sukiyaki (pronounced: soo-kee-yah-kee).  His hot pot came with all his ingredients already in it with the sauce at the bottom.  He was asked to wait for 3 minutes before stirring it all together to eat.  The other 3 of us received a plate with 4 large, thin slices of beef along with a gorgeous arrangement of fresh, raw vegetables to sir into our broths and cook ever so momentarily before eating straight or dipping in one of the 2 sauces we each got to choose.  I found myself dipping meat or veggies in a sauce then dabbing it on my rice and then eating it, sometimes with a bite of rice.

It really was a fun and enjoyable meal!  And so healthy!  Mom has been craving more veggies here, and so have I, and this hit the spot!

We made our way back to the hotel, went potty, got our luggage, and Kenji arranged an Uber.  As we went outside to wait for the Uber, Mom realized she's left her hat in the hotel bathroom.  Run like the wind, Bullseye!  Gotta get back fast.  She was going to leave it and write it off but I encouraged her to go get it.  She did and got back before the Uber arrived.  Yay!  The drive to the train station was smooth and we were there in no time.  Finding the right track for our train to Kyoto was another story.

The train station in Osaka is nicknamed City XX because of how spread out it is, like a city unto itself.  After a couple of false starts we finally found the right platform and were even a few minutes early!  We got on and the guys very kindly offered to keep our suitcases with them as they stood behind our seats.  The ride was about 30 minutes long and when we arrived Kenji helped us find our hotel easily as it was only a 10 minute walk from the train station.

We checked in and were each given keys to our separate rooms.  When we opened our doors we were met with a shock!  The rooms are even smaller than the ones in Tokyo, and we thought *those* were small!  These are comically small.  There is nowhere to put a suitcase (let alone 2) and open them up.  My suitcase is on the floor pushed up against the door so there's room to get into the bathroom without stubbing a toe.  It's ok.  It's just 2 nights.

We took a couple of hours to cool down, change clothes and rest a little before heading out to find dinner.  When we met the guys the told us it was raining.  Doh!  We had our curtains closed and didn't see that.  Again.  We had intended to do a walkabout and survey our new neighborhood and find somewhere for dinner.  Instead we ducked into a place around the corner that we passed on our way in.  Italian.  Yup, we came to Kyoto Japan and had Italian food.  The restaurant has a small footprint but goes up 3 floors.  The kitchen is on the first floor, with the pizza oven, a bar and 1 large table in the corner on the 2nd floor and the majority of the tables on the 3rd floor.  We walked up 2 sets of narrow, winding stairs as we giggled about it.

We all shared a Caesar salad (remember, Mom wants veggies), and a half order of burrata, sliced cherry tomatoes and 4 basil leaves.  Mom and I shared a Margherita pizza, Kenji had carbonara (he has a thing for this dish when it's made right), and he gave this one an 8 out of 10, and Leo had duck pizza that had a balsamic drizzle and arugula on it.  He declared it good.  The restaurant has an honest-to-goodness authentic Italian wood-fired pizza oven.  I saw that as we walked by on our way to the hotel.  The crust was really good, although the toppings made the center a bit soggy.  But, it was all yummy!  

Kenji had a limoncello & soda (water) and a glass of red wine while I had a "Spritz" that was supposed to be an Aperol Spritz, I think, but using a knock-off Aperol, maybe, so they couldn't use the Aperol name?  I don't know.  Anyway, it was quite watery and Kenji said his limoncello drink was, too.  I pulled the tooth pick out of my drink with a dark colored something on the end of it and mused aloud wondering if it was an olive or a Luxardo cherry.  After finishing the drink I bit into the dark whatever it was a found it was indeed... a black olive!  Ohmygosh!  Say what???  Seriously???  I grabbed a napkin and spit it out, laughing at the absurdity of a black olive in such a drink.  I also had a glass of white wine.  The pours on the wine were skimpy, to be kind.  But, not expensive so, ok.

If there's panna cotta on a dessert menu, I have to get it.  I LOVE panna cotta They had one for 450 yen ($3.07).  Leo joke about how small it would be, and indeed, it was small.  Kenji had a couple of bites, Mom tried it and Leo declined.  All the more for me!  It had a lovely little berry coulis and a couple of blueberries on it.  Yum!

When we came out from dinner the rain had stopped so we took a stroll around to see where we are and what's around us.  We saw lots of very tall buildings and a couple of small buildings defiantly in their shadows, very reminiscent of the movie Up.  We walked into a Lawson as Leo said he hadn't been in one yet.  We found ourselves back at our hotel and went into the 7/11 next door to scope out the possibilities for breakfast, then back to our rooms and the a/c for the night at 8 pm.