Nara

Last weekend we went to Nara to see the famous deer.  They have been protected in the park for a very long time.  When you bow to them, they are trained to bow back and expect to receive a biscuit in return.

It was a little on the early side when we arrived (meaning before 10am), so the park was fairly empty.  We meandered down to the lake, because G wanted to see the carp.  A friendly man came up and fed them and then shared his bread with us.  That was tons of fun until a deer came up wanting food too.  Deer are way more fun than carp!  The nice man gave us all of his food so we could feed the deer!!!!

We didn't see any wild boar.  That would have been crazy.

But there was quite a herd of deer nearby and the only other people around were a couple who clearly knew the deer and came all of the time.  We knew it was magical to have all the deer to feed, but we didn't realize exactly how magical.  The park really fills up with tourists later, and the deer we encountered later were more aggressive about wanting food.  One even bit my dress and I was afraid tore it!

We took our time feeding the deer by the lake.  It was sooo cool.  Not all of them wanted food.  They were also nibbling the grass and seemed really into it.  Plus, some of them were really young.

B took his camera, so maybe eventually he'll do a guest post.

These are the crackers you buy to feed the deer.  There are stalls set up everywhere, and all of them sell for the same price of 200 yen per stack of about 9 crackers. They are called shika (deer) senbei.

We stopped for lunch at what looked to be a cute restaurant.  My food and Husband's food was only mediocre.  But we let the kids get these dessert pancakes and they thought that was amazing.

Next we ambled our way to Todai-Ji Temple.  It houses a gigantic buddha statue made of bronze.  If I remember correctly, Husband told me it was the largest bronze statue in the world until the 1980's.

You had to pay to get in, but it was pretty cool to see.  Plus, the kids climbed through a hole in a log that's the same size as buddha's nostril.  Since they fit through it means they will have a good life.  Husband and I didn't think we'd fit, so I guess we'll have to find our good omen somewhere else.

This is a side statue.

This is the big buddha again.

When we were enjoying a soft serve ice cream break (they call it soft cream here) we heard a loud commotion and went to investigate.  It was a procession carrying this box (palanquin?) and making music.  We have no idea what that was about, but it looked interesting.

Notice the nervous face, since we weren't with those first super gentle deer anymore.

A view with Todai-Ji Temple in the background.  It has what look like horns, but which our tour guide told us are fish fins.  The first two temples here burned down, so they put water spirits on this one and it seems to be working to protect it.

We tried to recreate our morning with the nice deer by going back to the same spot, but the deer there were gone, and most deer apparently aren't hungry anymore by about 3pm.  So, we wandered around desperately trying to find deer that would eat the rest of our senbei before heading back home.  It's about 1.5 hour drive from our house, and was a pretty awesome day trip.

This weekend we were thinking of heading out for another day trip, but they are talking about a Super Typhoon that should hit here on Saturday.  So, it might be best to stay home and make sure we have plenty of food and flashlights.