Nara

We visited Nara's star, the Great Buddha "Daibutsu". He lives in the largest wooden building in the world, and is made of 437 tons of bronze/130kg of gold. A very impressive, imposing, and beautiful sight. A place you could stand peacefully in awe for 5 minutes, or 5 hours.

Here's the outside of the Daibutsu-den hall. This temple is surrounded by Nara park, which makes it a really fun walk to the temple. Why? Cause Nara park is famous for the hundreds of free-roaming tame deer that live there (see below). The deer are considered sacred, so they are well taken care of... you can buy deer food if you want to draw a herd to your hands. We had fun watching children eagerly hold out a handful of food, then run screaming to their mothers when deer by the dozen came running. At least they get exersize when running for the food :) The deer seem to be just as much a tourist attraction as the ancient temples are. They definately create a fun atmosphere.

A peaceful ancient city. My favorite part was the morning of our 2nd day. Before looking for breakfast, we wandered through an old neighborhood. Dark wooden slats along doors, circular ceramic tile roofs, tiny alley blocks; really showed how old Nara is. This quiet area away from the lights of the shops was dotted with dozens of small temples and shrines. We stopped to see Gangoji, the first Buddhist temple to come to Japan (originally built in Asuka, Nara in 588 ad, it was moved to Nara city in 710ad). Maybe because it was Dec. 30, so close to New Years, or because it was only 10 am, Mike & I were the sole toursts at this World heritage site.

Shifflebear, the Deer wisperer

This guy had just been playing tug-O-war with my map. Really.