Tim's visit: Nara

After seeing the sights in Kyoto we spent one day in Nara.  It was a nice change from the large city of Kyoto where most temples are far apart.  In Nara almost everything is concentrated in Nara park, and it is easy to walk around to see all of the temples and shrines!

We started at Yoshiki garden.  Even though it was the off season, it was very beautiful and peaceful.

 After the garden we went to Todai-ji to see the Daibutsu.  This temple is one of the largest wooden structures in the world, and it is currently only 2/3 the size it once was!  It was rebuilt after a fire.

 Inside is one of Japan's largest Buddhas.  It was extremely impressive!

 There are lots of deer in Nara.  They are protected there and you can buy "shika-senbei" (deer crackers) to feed them.  The deer are very smart and know when someone has bought a treat for them.  They swarm you until you feed them!

 I'm not sure what this was, but it is a stone wheel outside of a temple.  It was fun to spin.

 There were so many stone lanterns in Nara.  A lot of them looked very old with a lot of moss growing on them.  Tim was a little fascinated with them!

 Well hello there!

 More lanterns - they were everywhere!

 Another creepy dragon fountain for hand washing.  This one looks very spiny!

This deer became my friend.  I think it just wanted to eat my map.

 Randomly there were some disco balls hanging off the trees as we walked down a path.

 After we got back to Kyoto at the end of the day we went up to the roof of the train station/mall and watched the sun set!  It was a nice end to the day!