Day Trip to Nara

Well I told you already that I was staying in Kyoto with my friend, but our first day of vacation was actually spent mostly in Nara. If you're not sure where that is, it's about an hour (by train, is there any other way to travel in Japan?) west from Kyoto station. We were lucky enough to get a rapid train and got there in 40 min, at about 10 am. There were tourist maps in 6 languages at a stand in the station, and unlike both Kyoto and Osaka stations this one was pretty small, we didn't get lost trying to find the exit, and most of the things there were to see are fairly close together and on the same side of the station.

There was a tourist info center right next to the station. I had to take a picture of it though because the building was really interesting. It was mostly western but had some very Asian elements to it in a combination that is very rare to see,  even in a place like Japan that loves to mix the modern and traditional in all kinds of interesting ways. We started out just going down the main street, heading eventually toward the 5 tiered pagoda. We saw an old burial ground on the map, but somehow managed to walk right past it without seeing it. Oh well, the pagoda was pretty cool, and the temple that went with it.

We made our way over to Todaiji Temple from there, passing a couple of gardens, one was free for foreign tourists and the other was about 600 yen for everyone. We didn't end up going to either one because they were both closed for the spring pruning and replanting. If we'd been one week earlier or later in the season we would've been able to go in. Despite this, it was a nice walk through some residential backstreets and the whole place was pretty quiet. Though that may be because it was the off season on a weekday.
If you are wondering, yes, there are deer, after all the whole city was named after the deer, that just wander around and will let you pet them, but only if you have food. If you're not offering them anything to eat they either ignore you or run off if you get too close.

We stopped beside a lake outside Daibutsudo, the temple of the great Buddha, to eat our lunch and one decided that she wanted to share. My friend picked up our food to keep the deer away from it, but the map that we had spread out on the bench between us to look at while we ate wasn't so lucky. This deer here grabbed it right out from under my leg and tried to eat it! I took it away from her then she started snuffling around my legs looking for something else and must have thought my shoelaces looked good because they were her next targets. The deer are nice and all, and there're stands that sell rice cracker things for you to feed them all over the place so it's not like feeding them is discouraged, but you might want to remember that they've learned to beg borrow or steal food if they can get it. Just like seagulls or those disgusting monkeys you see on documentaries about India, so if you wanna eat something yourself, be careful!

 We finished up the afternoon with a trip to the Forest of 1000 Lanterns. The whole thing was beautiful there was a shrine at the beginning and a whole bunch of the stone lanterns lustered everywhere. Then you follow this walking trail back behind the shrine and through the forest where there are torii and lanterns and small shrines dotting the sides of the path. The walk took us about 15 minutes, and when we came out at the other end of the park we were a little out of the city. There were a few more things to do here and there, the Edo-style townhouse probably topping the list, before we headed home. If the gardens had been open it would have been dark by the time we headed home. As it was we got back to the station to head back to the hostel at about 4 pm.