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Day 0 continued: arriving at Universal Studios Grand Hotel is quite an experience. . it's a huge hotel that straddles the entrance to the park, and the Citywalk. very "vintage" Hollywood designed too. and they were decorated for Halloween! for some reason (VERY unlike me) I don't seem to have taken any pics of the room at Universal? but each room was themed, and ours was "Back to the Future". . so we had pics of Doc and Doc, Marty, the DeLorean in our room. and a nice view the lobby is pretty art deco. loved this lamp. you could take these stairs down to go thru security for park entry. we were going to meet up with 'the Nicks" to go into Citywalk, but Stacy and I headed to the bar first. where we discovered an entire drink menu themed to 'spooky' it was called the "Moonlight Berry Whisper" and had a Berry Ice Dragon in it. . of COURSE I had to order it. it was really good, tho not much alcohol in it. Fischer had "Shrek's Vitality Potion" and Shane had a "Spiced Soul" I believe after drinks, we headed out to Citywalk, passing right in front of the park gates. while Universal Beijing doesn't have "Halloween Horror Nights" officially, they DO have "Scares @ Universal" with some very familiar park landmarks that are from HHN, and some Houses, that are included with admission. as well as a big show and 3 "scare zones" that feature their Halloween Mascots - represented below in the neon sign. but we'd be doing that tomorrow. Tonight was just a visit to the Citywalk to check it out, and grab a bite. Can't be a Universal without the famous globe out front! not as big as some of the other CityWalks I've been to (tho I've never been to the US Universals). . .but this one had very reasonable prices on everything, and some very decent food options. and a Popstore - that of course, was sold out of Labubu PLENTY of everything else tho. . but I very quickly got over the blind box craze. . I wanna know what I'm buying . . . did pick up a few as gifts tho. very large food court, that was open after the park closed. . . i think we came in here to eat close to 10:30 pm? everything was so inexpensive, I ended up ordering way too much so I could try things. my stomach regretted it later that night, but at least I didn't eat all of it. and only had one of these (gifted one to others at the table, and tossed one). . I got excited by seeing Door Nail Dumpling as an option for a side, and ordered them. but of course, they were no where near as good as the handmade by grandmas ones we had had earlier today. They were ok tho. . . just not amazing. on the way back to the hotel, we popped into Toothsome's to check out prices they were reasonable, and we ended up grabbing some stuff for our room. and then the robot guy (no idea what his name is) was out and about at end of night. . so for some reason, I did a "gangsta pose" with him while wearing my Chinese Grandma red jacket. . . LOL still a good pic tho. a pic of some of the fountains as we crossed the lake back to the hotel. and then it was time to crawl into bed, and sleep. tomorrow was a big day - breakfast included in the hotel, and then a full day at Universal Beijing to kick off the official TPR China trip.

Day 0 - Beijing Back alley food tour & bus to 1st basecamp hotel: Universal Studios Beijing! part 1 Elissa & Robb had found a local food tour company that was very highly rated, and had made plans to take the tour. She offered to anyone that was arriving early, if they wanted to join in, and I believe we had all 12 spots filled with TPR folks. after a great sleep (thanks to Tylenol PM to knock me out and help prevent jet lag), I got up and got my first look at the actual view from my room. pretty nice. it was nice and cool, and I had slept with windows cracked. . .was loving the weather. but I had an important task to take care of now that I was actually thru Immigration & Customs: China parks tend to be very restrictive on age/weight/height. so anything I could do to make myself look younger, I needed to do. Cutoff age was 49, so needed to look at least that young - or at least tell them I was that young if they asked. Some dyed hair, but for me, that meant shapewear (for weight, since they mainly eyeball), and cutting off the goatee, as I knew that would make me look much younger. and it did I made sure to take note of the warning on the Q-tips the hotel supplied, and was aware of my "ear socket and deep nostril" checked out, and had the hotel hold the bags (as we weren't headed over to Universal until ~3pm, and the food tour started at 11am). we met up in the lobby, and grabbed a pic with Robb, and the cow that was hanging out by the hotel front entrance: my roomie for this trip, Stacy, also did the food tour with us! with excellent Navigation from Elissa, we made our way over to the nearest metro station, and headed to the meeting spot for the food tour. random pics snapped while walking to the metro. this rail system was super easy to understand, and that was true of every major city we took the train in. and it was great to see so many things with English translations, even if the vast majority of the people did not speak English. (translator app is super helpful) we got to our stop about 40 minutes early, so we were cut loose to explore the area and meet back to start the tour at 11. the area in central Beijing is absolutely gorgeous the stop we were to meet at was apparently next to a pretty major landmark - the Central Axis and Wanning Bridge: all over the city there were little "workout" areas and many of them were being used by older folks staying in shape. Andrew and Jon too ! these folks were just hanging out on an afternoon putting on a performance in a music circle. myself and John - he was a huge hit over in China (especially among the kids). . they just hadn't seen a beard like this often. . so lots of folks snapping pics of him. the aforementioned music performance. and yes, the singer really did sound an awful lot like Yoko Ono singing. was very cool to hear tho, and the folks gathered were very appreciative. absolutely no idea why this "Patrick and Spongebob holding each other's cakey-butts" was on this bike, but I saw it several places around Beijing. perhaps a local "graffiti art" type image? Dancing Children, yay!!! Not today, as it was Sunday. . but later in the trip, we'd see so many children in the parks on school trips. back at the station, we snapped a pic with our food guide and then we were off! our first stop down an alley was this tiny (well, they were all pretty small, local places) noodle house. looking around the alley as our guide explained how this local place had been here for many years, and was very popular for their pulled noodles. a peek into the kitchen from the table I sat at. the 12 of us on the tour took up pretty much all the tables in this place, so we were able to learn about the food, and how it's made and should be eaten. mixing everything together. it smelled incredible. as someone who likes spicy, I added chili sauce to mine, but not until after tasting it first, to get the full flavor of the noodles yum! you can tell I just *hated* this the kewl side of the place being so small, is that the owner and chef came out and sat with us to watch us eat and judge our reactions. they were so surprised I asked if I could take their picture. (behind them are pics of Chinese celebrities who have come by this place for noodles) moving on towards our next stop, I did notice that some of the architecture in this neighborhood was very "heavy". . . what I'd expect from a Communist place. . but most of it was not. which made places like this stand out that much more. I truly was surprised how much i enjoyed the people and places in China, and found everyone to be just delightful. (well. . except for that one Disney saleswoman who couldn't understand I wanted to buy a medium shirt for my bf, and kept pointing to my belly and saying "too fat" when I tried to check out with the shirt). LOL our guide explained to us how most of these entrances we were passing in the alleys were homes, and the blue "studs" indicated wealth/prestige. . so the more of them, the higher the rank. many had 1 or 2, but a few had 4. then we turned onto a little strip center and into our 2nd stop: slightly bigger place, and we only took up two of the 4 long tables in here. some of the options, tho we were going to try the first one, a famous Beijing dish called a Door Nail Dumpling (because it looks like a door nail on the Forbidden City giant red doors) our guide explained the history of the dish, how it got it's name. . . and broke out a local alcohol - that was quite strong - for us to try. cheers! here are the Dumplings. and they were OMG so good. . . I think would rank way up there in the top 3 things I ate this entire trip. absolutely delicious back out into the main street, and down another alley way, and we were at our 3rd stop. this one just looked like a doorway. . but as you went back, it split off into multiple houses/restaurants. we sat at a table in the "courtyard". . and were served multiple dishes to make a meal. Pork (or chicken. . not sure which) oh, maybe that one is the chicken? lots of options on the table, and our guide explained the proper way to eat everything. these were a "desert". . which really tasted like a red bean marmalade. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't a favorite of mine. mainly because I really hate being sticky, and you can tell from just looking at these, how sticky it was. here she is explaining procedure to us again, everything was quite good. very low on the "spiciness" level (for me), but really great on flavor. as soon as was done, I had to go wash my hands (the sticky thing). . so got to see my first "traditional" Chinese toilet. ta-da! and then we were on our way back thru the alleys and back onto a main street for our final stop. it wasn't on the main floor tho. . it was on the rooftop (overlooking the historical landmark "Drum Tower") noted, ummmm. . . vampire policeman? I think? adorable that they put "cloud lights" above the stairs as you ascend three flights to the rooftop. the rooftop was lovely - and covered in Astroturf. yup, our final stop was Hot Pot (which many of us on this trip had never had before). . with beef, pork, and tofu options and ADORABLE mustard dipping sauce bowls the aforementioned Drum Tower view from the rooftop dining. food tour over, and myself full, fat, and happy, we headed back to the metro to grab our luggage from the Hilton, and head over to Universal via transfer bus that Elissa had booked. the front of the restaurant entrance that we went into for the rooftop dining. yeah. . the metro was a LITTLE more crowded on the ride back to the Hilton. but the transfer bus was there, and we loaded our luggage and spread out. the official trip didn't start till tomorrow, so 15 or so more folks would be meeting us later at the hotel. pics from the bus window as we left central Beijing (since the Universal resort is on the town outskirts) and it had been dark the night before, so I didn't get to see really any of the city just a tiny fraction of the apartment buildings, that stretched for miles in every direction around Beijing. and crossing over one of the multiple "moats" that surround the city. and then. . .glimpsed thru the window on the opposite side? we turned into Universal Beijing resort. to be continued. . .

after a bit of a break. . continuing on with last year's Oktoberfest trip! (i know, I know. . . but whattayagonnado???) Day 6: Leaving Munich and headed to Europa Park! not too early of a check out, but up and out early, saying goodbye to Munich and climbing aboard the buss for the drive to Europa Park (about a 3 1/2 hour drive) Elissa surprised us during the drive with everyone getting a gingerbread cookie medallion to congratulate us on surviving Oktoberfest looking out the window and enjoying the beautiful German countryside these tiny tractors on a transport next to us were adorable! we made a pit stop at a roadside rest area for a lunch break and were rewarded with some beautiful views from the back patio of the Burger King there: and if this hadn't freaked me out so much, I would have bought it. . . FASHION!!! very soon tho, we were arriving at Europa Park! this trip we were staying at the Coloseo - the Roman themed resort . . and it, like the park, was all done up for Halloween. the view out of the front of the hotel, looking at the resort across the street (where I had stayed my prior visit to Europa with TPR), and the back of the Water/coaster ride from Mack. getting to my room. . the view out the window. not of the park this time, but it was really quite lovely, and that street was not noisy at all. simple, but very heavily themed rooms here. I'd expect no less from Europa Park, and they exceeded my expectation. solo room this trip, so no need for the bunk beds. . . but loved the design of them. BRILLIANT placement of Vitruvian Man, making use of the mirror to complete the image. it was around this time that we got a message from Robb - the park (and Robb/Elissa) were surprising us with admittance to the park for the last hour of operation (if we wanted) and some ERT on Voltron, the newest coaster. of course, I think pretty much everyone wanted, and we all met in the lobby and headed over to the resort entrance to go into the park. the park is HEAVILY decorated with over 1 million pumpkins (I recall them telling me) - and after Halloween, guests are encouraged to take pumpkins home with them! it was chilly, but that didn't stop people from riding the flume - newly open and rebuilt after a fairly recent fire took out almost the whole ride the prior summer. where would we head? we had just under an hour before we were supposed to meet up at Voltron. so many of us headed towards Wodan (one of the best wooden coasters in the world) and Blue Fire. Splash battle wasn't popular this late in the day - and at this temp.. but still get some great pics of the park's incredible theming. the main entrance to Wodan (and there is a free haunt back there too, for those that don't want to pay the upcharge for Traumatica - which was worth EVERY PENNY by the way). But that's what that smoke is from, the free haunt. it really is such an amazing coaster, and the theming in the queue is great as well. happy TPR folks, about to ride Wodan! Christopher loved it! so did I ! following the arc of the park, to head to Voltron, we had to pass Blue Fire. so of COURSE! again, happy TPR folks about to go on Blue Fire I do like this coaster a lot. . that last heartline roll tho? that part I don't care for. having just ridden a clone of it in China, can confirm, yeah, I don't like that last heartline roll. LOL passing by the Blue Fire entrance again after riding. . yeah, they have blue sheep on the roof. why? Europa Park! that's why theming *everywhere* and shortly, we were standing in front of Voltron. . . it's quite intimidating right out front. it was right near closing time for the park, hence why not a lot of folks around in these pics. and you really can't tell how long it is. . it is a long ride capturing Euro Mir and Voltron trains in the same pic. Sadly, I think I just saw something about Europa will be removing Euro Mir to replace it with a new coaster. gahhh!!! TPR is ready to ride Voltron! Yay!!! after our rides, the park allowed us to peek into the main queue line and snap some pics, and observe the "singing" Tesla Coils that trigger while folks wait in line. it was so cool to have this opportunity. what did I think of Voltron ? it's really intense. . . I liked it a lot, but I wasn't able to ride every train during our surprise ERT. . .I did every 3rd train. in particular, the "wing" seats were the most intense. . .it's good tho! especially that "turntable / launch" section that is hidden, and then you realize the ride isn't over and you haven't returned to the station. after our rides, we headed back to the hotel, as we had a buffet dinner planned, and a 1st - a TPR speed puzzling competition, organized by William. loved the theming in the park tho, and kept stopping for pics. "Angry Corn" more angry corn!