April 1, 2015.
Guess where we spent our final few days in beautiful Japan?
If you're thinking "well she's writing this the first week of April when it's peak bloom in Kyoto and she's such an airy fairy aesthete and he's such an awe junkie so they're probably lingering there in one of the 2,000 temples, parks, or gardens," thank you for playing, but no.
Somewhere between Dubai and Seoul our kids found out about Japanese Harry Potter World. Whose official name is Universal Studios World of Wizarding. So Jon and I made Osaka the last stop of our trip around the world.
In a way it's an entirely appropriate finale to our trip because ever since leaving NYC three months ago the kids have played "Harry Potter." This basically means that they stick chopsticks in the other's face and yell "Expeliamus!" or "Petronus!" Last month in Bali I found Francesca had peed outside the bathroom door. When I asked her why she didn't go in time, she said, "because Max took chopsticks in there and I didn't want him to put a spell on me."
My one Wizarding World regret was trying to finish my son's Butterbeer. It's basically a two liter mug of 7-up and vanilla ice cream with gum syrup added to ensure that you get diabetes before leaving the park.
Here's how you enter the world of wizarding. Cue the audio:
"I can't believe Mom and Dad actually brought us here!"
"I know! Those spells we put on them while they were sleeping worked great!"
No one at the park could translate the slogan in the upper right corner. It was only when we got back to our hotel that our concierge nailed it:
"Let's leave the ordinary world behind."
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