It was bound to happen eventually, and it finally did.  We got on public transportation going the wrong way and took a scenic tour of the eastern part of Kyoto.  Ooops   The roads on Saturday were relatively congested, so between that and the slight detour, it took us about one and a half hours to get from our hotel to Kyoto Station for the train ride to Osaka.

Once in Osaka, we headed straight to the Aquarium, which houses giant salamanders, penguins, dolphins (we saw a feeding time show), a ring-tailed coati, huge whale sharks, loggerhead turtles, and ocean sunfish.  For any Argentina CSC people reading this blog, remember the picture that A.J. had of some un-identifiable raccoon looking creature with an ant-eater like nose?  Guess I had to go to Osaka to find out it was a coati, which is a cousin of the raccoon.
      

Ryan and I took a spin on the neighboring ferris wheel, with a view of Osaka from 112.5 meters high, and then met back up with Jason and Kelly for a tasty dinner of Japanese tapas and some french fries in what looked to be a local hangout.  Dad, you would appreciate that people here eat french fries and potato chips with chopsticks.
     

We hopped the train to the train to the bus back to Kyoto and checked into a traditional ryoken for the night.  The traditional room had no shower or toilet; the only showers available were the washing areas in the onsen.  Ryan and Jason had no choice this time!