Day 8

Today was the first day Kieren was truly looking forward to - Universal Studios

We decided to get up a little later than yesterday as it was only one train ride away and we didn’t want to get there until 10 to let the initial surge dissipate - we weren’t interested in any of the rides after all

The plan worked perfectly and we were through in a matter of minutes


We were in the place less than a minute before kieren got his first buzz of excitement 

And he made full use of it - 3 items bought but Big Bird was too shy to be photographed 

We then decided to head towards the Harry Potter part of things. We didn’t quite know how to get there so ended up in Wonderland


It was so sugary sweet in there I felt nauseous so went to ask one of the staff how to get out. He was a man in his 20’s, dancing like no-one was looking. The other 3 didn’t know what I was doing and so when I came back to them with the directions they were laughing as they thought I’d gone over to tell him to stop dancing and grow up - I wish I had…..

So onto the Harry Potter part:









It was very impressive and Hattie bought herself a slytherin scarf - how apt

I was tempted by the butter beer then remembered from Harry Potter world/land that it was awful so swerved it

I’m glad we went early as it was heaving as we left which gave us the opportunity to have some real beer and a little sit down - these theme parks are exhausting 

The next place we went was the Jurassic Park area where we watched some mugs get soaked in a ride they’d waited 2 and a half hours for and that got us feeling a little peckish 


We each had a Turkey leg - I assume it looked a bit dinosaur-y which it why it was on sale here

The jury is out on its taste but kieren ate it and as it was only his second ever off-the-bone-meat it can’t have been too bad

More shops came our way and we were introduced to the idea of a parade so we sat on the floor and waited for it 





During that time a girl in front of us fawned over another girl in an awful blond wig, making sure her hair was perfect whilst the latter girl stared adoringly at her own reflection in her phone

All I could think about however, apart from pity for the first girl, was whether the prima donna realised she had a swastika on her coat….


Then the parade happened











Now I don’t think it’s fair for me to say I thought the parade was poor, because this really wasn’t for me - it was all about Kieren. Personally I think theme parks are childish and I see no fun in them at all

Well, most of the time

We then dropped H&K back at the hotel so we could go for a quiet beer 

We couldn’t find the bar we wanted (as the hotel bar was closed) so went to the Hilton Hotel bar

We were offered the beer menu and my quick calculation found that it was £10 per pint

It then got brought to us and was in fact £10 for a half but worry you not - they did make up for it by giving us a thimble sized portion of mixed nuts


You’ll be surprised to hear that we left after that and instead went back to the British Bar for a couple more

Whilst there, they asked a few to move to release table space for a reservation

That’s fair enough

Then they started laying out some food and from what we could gather it was sugar snap peas, chorizo, cubes of cheese and pots of popcorn




What on earth were they thinking? Unfortunately we couldn’t stick around to find out as we’d a table booked at the Outback Steak house for our final night in Osaka

Unlike the previous evening here, I was drinking so went for the “bloke” sized glass


Lovely

To be fair the meal was lovely too and the staff couldn’t do enough for us



And on the way home we even stumbled across some of the blossom we’d heard so much about



It’s been a wonderful week in Osaka - it would take another week to do the city justice but for now it’s off to Tokyo we go, in the morning


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