Holiday in Japan (12): return
Thursday was a day of departures with different members of the Great Rail Journeys group flying off to different destinations. Those flying to London had the day free in Osaka. Four of us joined together as a Northern Brigade: Dave & Jen from Grimsby, Jenny originally from Huddersfield, and me originally from Manchester. The weather was excellent: 23C.
After a late breakfast, we walked all the way to the towering Osaka Castle and had a good look around the grounds, but we did not go inside because the queue for entry was so long. Next, we stopped at a boulangerie for coffee and cake and it was warm enough to sit outside.
We failed to find a bus tour of the city, so we took a taxi to the Dotonbori district which we visited yesterday. We explored different streets and paused for a cold drink and a snack. Again we were able to sit outside.
Another taxi had us back at our hotel about 3.30 pm. We had had to vacate our rooms, so the next three and a half hours were spent in and around the hotel, with the Northern Brigade venturing out to a nearby mall for what was either a late lunch or early dinner. The group left the hotel at 7 pm to spend four hours at the airport before take-off.
Again we flew with Emirates: Osaka to Dubai (five hours behind) in an Airbus A380 for ten and a half hours and Dubai to London (eight hours behind) in another Airbus for an additional seven and a quarter hours.