Thursday, 18th December

We got up and had a complimentary breakfast at our Okayama hotel. It was western-style with toast and things, and cute fruit salads with 1 piece of pineapple, 1 grape and 1 tiny piece of orange in a small plastic container. I had three (giving the pineapple to Charles).
We left our luggage with the staff and HIT the TOWN. First we went to the Okayama park via the Ugliest Fountain Ever. We went over a Smelly River and found the park and had to pay to get in. It was a pretty park with lots of little different things in it, like a crane (the bird) enclosure and several tea houses and fish in the ponds.
Next we went to the castle. When we found out that it was 800 yen each to go in, we decided to just look at the castle.
"Is that the Castle beyond the Goblin City?"
"Turn back Sarah. Turn back before it's too late."
Then we went back into town and had a coffee and cake break at a cafe. YUM. We went to Loft department store where I bought a Frog and Toad book for Emi's niece for Christmas. It's in Japanese so her mum will be able to read it to her. I loved Frog and Toad when I was little! They also had frog and toad soft toys but I restrained myself as they were poorly made and I think I could do better myself.
We got our luggage and took a taxi to the station (it's a long annoying way and I wasn't feeling too well) and got the shinkansen easily. It was an uneventful ride and I got to watch The Wonder Years on the lappy. Aw Kevin!
At Osaka it was an easy trip to our hotel because it's just over the road from the station. It's a business hotel, and our room is smaller than other times. The bed was advertised as being a "semi-double" which is ... compact. We will manage. Maybe one of us will sleep upside down. The man at the desk had some confusion when he thought we were a guy called Frank. We managed to communicate in the end.
After a brief rest we went out again, taking the (unfortunately NOT JR) subway into the city, where there is the largest underground shopping arcade in Japan (or the world?). We found Metamorphose which was smaller than the one in Kyoto, but had some shoes on sale and I was able to communicate with the adorable shop girl enough to try them on and figure out that there was only one size - too small. She even took out the laces for my gargantuan foot! No shoes for me.
Then we walked around the corner to the Aranzi Aronzo shop. Aranzi Aronzo is a shop that sells merchandise to do with some characters that you can make. It's hard to explain, but I have two Aranzi Aronzo craft books which tell me how to make all these little felt animals. The shop sells other stuff with pictures of those animals, and storybooks about them. I bought Chucky some boxer shorts with Robot Panda and Normal Panda on them, and he bought me a little tiny calander with pictures of all the characters. We also got a little postcard book and I bought a small bag and some stickers. The lady gave me a tiny purse to go with the bag for FREE! I was so happy to be there. There's a character that's a little scotty dog which is based on the owner's dog Tetsu. In the shop there were photos of the real Tetsu and a bowl and a leash and a mat where he usually sits. I wish we could've seen Tetsu!
On the way back to the station we got food at a place in the arcade. There was no English menu so the waitress came outside with us so we could point to the plastic food we wanted. Almost every Japanese restaurant has creepily realistic plastic food in the window. I also managed to say that I don't eat prawn. Yay!
We only got a little bit lost at our station. It's big!
I'm feeling homesick tonight, so we watched Monty Python on the lappy. Episode 2: The Larch.
Chucky promised that he would let me sleep in until TEN tomorrow.