We had breakfast in a tiny little old cafe with American movie star posters and fabulous lino. Boiled egg and toast is breakfast in Dobutsuen-Mae.

We tested out the drinks in the vending machine. We had latte and short black and tomato juice in a can.

We took our laundry to the laundromat and went to the local bath house. We put our shoes in a locker. Girls go separately to the boys. There is a TV and a couch and you can do your laundry there and have a drink and use the scales and the hairdryer. We were a bit shy about putting all our clothes in a locker but were comfortable pretty soon. First we washed off and then we got into the baths. There were 3 of them. Each seemed hotter than the next. Then we discovered the cold bath. There was a steam room and a sauna too. It was very relaxing. We met John outside and went back to our room to lie down.

We went into Dotombori on the train in the afternoon. There is a river there and lots of shops and restaurants and neon lights. We ordered gyoza tickets from vending machine outside a groovy restaurant and took them inside to eat.

We loved the American coffee house which was opened in the 1940’s and had a massive display of model desserts in the window. It had chandeliers and gold curtains and beautiful flowers. Laxmi had a raspberry shaved ice and Varsha had a yoghurt parfait.