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On the Friday morning we were travelling to a Science Museum in Kobe, as well as to Osaka Castle. To our surprise an additional stop had been scheduled, a visit to an Automata Museum which we both found truly fascinating, although Alice did expressed dissatisfaction as one floor was dedicated to puzzles. (Alice, it is a puzzle party after all!)
Despite having had a large Japanese-style breakfast, the next stop was Fisherman's Wharf in Kobe, where we had a truly magnificent buffet lunch, before travelling on to the Science Museum.
It had rained most of the morning, but being inside, this had not affected us. We travelled back to Osaka to visit the castle, rebuilt in only 1930, so it did actually have a lift taking us almost to the top, where we were able to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the city.
We knew we would only have a short time for a walk around the grounds, but we had been told that we must look out for what was described as the world's largest impossible object. It came in the form of a very large secret joint in a wooden pillar supporting one of the gates to the castle walls.
The picture here (to follow) should show why it is known as an impossible object, as it is very difficult to visualise how this was both cut and assembled. Fortunately the hosts of this year's puzzle party had arranged for all of us to have a small model of the joint to take away. Can you picture the inside of it?
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