Last day on tour

It seems to have come quickly but we’ve seen and done a lot of things!

First stop was Himeji Castle regarded as the finest surviving example of its kind. In its current form it dates back to 1617 and avoided being bombed and destroyed in the 1995 earthquake.

We had a quick lunch where we shared our table with a lovely Asian appearances couple that turned out to be from Wantirna South. I had some lovely chestnuts and the person who has invaded Phillip’s body enjoyed beef with noodles with chopsticks.

Then we had time to visit the castle gardens which were really beautiful. There was a gorgeous little boy who had just been to his three year old blessing And a little girl who might have also had a ceremony but appeared to be in Korean dress.

In the bus on the way back to Osaka we had an origami session and made our own Mt Fuji. Then we went to the Umeda Sky building - an amazing feat of engineering with a glass walled elevator and escalators. Phillip made it to level 36 before bailing out.

And then it was the final dinner with another traditional Japanese dinner and a couple of speeches thanking our wonderful guide Koko-san. Fond farewells when we got to the hotel and then the tour was over!