It's here and it's a long post, so grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile!
After visiting the Golden Temple, we took a train out to Nara, Japan. I was really looking forward to going to Nara, since I had been told that wild deer roam free in the city.
Upon entering the city, we picked up a tour guide at the train station, who led us around and told us the historic significance of what we were seeing. On our way to the sights, we walked through downtown and I could tell that deer were coming up.
And then, I saw it...my first Nara deer! This is what we were waiting for! I quickly ran over to pet it. I mean, how often do you get to pet a "wild" deer?! Can't you see my excitement?
The deer was just a distraction from what we were headed to see: Goju-no-to, the 5-storied pagoda at the Kofuku-ji, a Buddhist temple. It was pretty awesome.
As we continued to walk the ground, we saw a lot more foliage. As usual, it was beautiful!
Here we are (well, Sara took this pic, so she's not in it), looking like tourists and learning about the current state of many of the historic-looking buildings.
When we came upon a clearing, Sara and I almost bolted: DEER! LOTS AND LOTS OF DEER! And you could feed them and pet them and take lots of pictures of them! It was very exciting, I tell you.
Ah, yes. The deer were cute. True, they can get pushy if you don't offer them food, but I found them charming.
We quickly realized that these Nara deer are EVERYWHERE....literally. Look, they are in the streets...
...in the crowds...
...chilling with Gabe on the steps of the shrine entrance....
...everywhere. But, enough with the deer (for now...). We kept moving with the large crowds to Todai-ji Temple, which was constructed in the late 700s. This temple is the largest wooden building in the world and is only 2/3 of the original size (it was reconstructed in in the late 1600s - early 1700s)! It also houses Japan's largest Buddha statue. But, before entering the temple area, our guide showed us how Buddhists first light incense before entering a temple. We each put an incense stick into the cauldron, but my coat did not like this experience.
Yup, those would be burn holes.
The temple was an impressive structure and extremely crowded. Considering it's history and the value to this culture, it shouldn't really be a surprise.
The Great Buddha, also known as Diabutsu, was huge. It's over 50 feet tall!
Me and Sara!
Within the Todai-ji complex is another temple up on a hill called Nigatsu-do. We trekked up there and enjoyed some spectacular views of Nara.
There was also a little resting station where you could sit and enjoy some tea.
As we walked towards the exit, we ran into some more deer, but this time it was a deer family! They were really cute and we just HAD to feed them.
The walk back was stunning. The foliage was just breathtaking...and you know what that means? Photo op!
Another beautiful element on the premises are all the stone lanterns. Our tour guide told us that they are still used once or twice every year.
Finally we made it to back to the entrance of the park and had to say farewell to our helpful tour guide, Hiroshi - well, not without snapping a picture first.
After a train ride back to Kyoto, we decided to walk around Kyoto Station. Kyoto Station is a huge hub of activity in Kyoto that serves as the main train station. It's a pretty modern marvel in such a historic area and apparently Kyoto was hesitant to embrace it at first. However, we quickly learned that there is more than meets the eye in this train hub. To our surprise and delight we found that there were sights to be seen!
Ten stories of shopping:
Architectural marvels:
A lighted skywalk:
A lit-up holiday display:
We traveled back to our hotel and realized that, one, we were hungry and two, we weren't ready to call it a night. I had read about a little restaurant called Lugol that was close to our hotel and was popular with the locals. So we set off to find it. It wasn't so easy to find though and we quickly realized that we were somewhat lost. While we were searching the map, a local man came up to us and asked (in English, I might add) if we needed help. We all ended up finding the restaurant and he joined us for dinner. While eating, we found out that he is a Buddhist monk. As I sat back and enjoyed my food, I just couldn't believe that we were were sitting in a fun, local restaurant in the middle of Kyoto, Japan with a Buddhist monk days after Thanksgiving! What a trip this was turning out to be!
And I promise, part four of the trip is coming soon! Stay tuned!
