Bright lights of Osaka: Japan’s third largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama
I woke up with my best friend Catrin, her sister Alexa and Bella in Osaka on my 9th birthday and we all jumped for joy on the bed!
The view from our bedroom window
As soon as I was up and dressed I raced to Mummy and Daddy. First I opened a small lovely present that was some washing tape with cats on. Then we all bundled down to breakfast. I had toast with lots of nutella on it. The breakfast table was covered with glitter and ‘happy birthday’ confetti, and a big 9 balloon.
As soon as I finished eating I opened all of my presents except for one that I saved for later. One of my favourites was this gorgeous charm bracelet from Catrin. Mummy and Daddy gave me a card with dancing kittens on it that sang Happy Birthday out of tune!
First I went shopping in Gap with my birthday money. Catrin was a really kind friend at helping me choose things and letting me know what suited me and not.
Then we went for a crepe lunch, and an ice cream for dessert in a big crazy shopping centre with a big green bear outside.
After lunch I went to a shop to get some new glasses which I put in cool case which Mummy and Daddy had given me at breakfast time.
After that we went to an arcade place and me and my best friend went in a funky photo booth where you take photos and can then play with images adding stickers and other cool things.
In the arcade we also played mario cart which was a crazy driving game.
When we got back to the hotel we had a cake that was a pile of giant chocolate chip cookies with candles in it. Then we (just the children!) ordered room service and watched 2 movies and had a midnight feast.
Happy Birthday Emily!
But it didn’t end there!!!!
We moved to a different hotel the day after my birthday. I woke up and I was so excited to look out of the window and see rollercoasters whizzing round and Hogwarts in the distance.
When we arrived at the park I could see the spinning globe which meant we were at Universal Studios AT LAST for my birthday treat!
The first world that I went to was Harry Potter world. As we walked in we saw Stone Henge from England. We walked down a long path until we eventually saw Hogwarts. We walked past all the shops in Diagon Alley and went into Ollivanders Wand store. We also saw Honeydukes, and that crazy plant shop (Noltie’s Botanical Novelties), and the toilet had Moaning Myrtle roaming around it. The first ride we went on was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and you basically went on a 4 seater and zoomed round the Quidditch pitch, and there were dementors, and spiders and Aragog spitting at you with actual water, and the dragons from The Goblet of Fire breathed hot air/fire at us. After that we wandered around, posed by the flag of our favourite house, and then went for lunch at the Hogs Head. We had a goblet of butter beer each. It tasted like apple juice with cream at the top. Next we went on the Harry Potter Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster. We got the very front carriage which was epic.
Dad dragged us to Water World, and we watched a crazy show with lots of fire, shooting, jetskis and old boats. This part of Universal Studios I didn’t particularly like.
There were tonnes of crazy rollercoasters everywhere, including an upside down one (that Bella and Daddy liked) and a backwards one.
When we went past a model of Jaws, Mummy and Daddy posed in its jaws.
We walked past Minion fountain and a dog petshop before getting to a ride called Minion Mayhem. The car moved around and it was trying to transform us into a Minion ourselves. It was a 4D experience and it made Mummy feel sick but the rest of us really liked it.
We all walked by a shop that was selling Snoopy ears and decided to buy a pair seeing as me and Bel had recently fallen love with Snoopy (who is Rachel’s (Catrin’s mummy’s) favourite).
Overall it was exciting to spend a Birthday in Japan and go to Harry Potter world in Universal Studios which I had been wanting to all my life. It was especially good because the Lewis Banks family could be there on my actual birthday.