Nara

Nadia and I traveled to Nara recently and had an amazing time looking at all the sights. We went to Todaiji Temple that was magnificent, saw some deer in Nara park, and walked around the city. Below are some pictures you can take a look at. If there is no caption scroll over the picture and it will have a short description.

These deer were all around Nara park and they would walk right up to us and let us pet them.

According to the history of Kasuga Shrine, this god descended into Nara on a white deer to protect the newly built capital, Heijo-Kyo.

This was a pillar inside the temple that when crawled through was supposed to give that person good luck. I don't think I would have fit.

This is a beautiful fountain that we found. They are found all around the temple. Some are used for washing your hands and mouth before entering the temple and some are used for drinking as well.

So it must have been a field trip day to Nara because everywhere we went there were schoolkids of all ages walking around. At two separate times, groups of elementary schoolkids stopped us and starting speaking fluent English which surprised us both and then we surprised them when we responded to their questions in Japanese. They asked us where we were from, if we liked Japan, etc. They wanted pictures with us so we felt like rock stars. Anyway, I just thought I would add that in since we had a fun time talking and interacting with them.

I visited a shrine called Omiwa Jinja and I decided to post pictures of it since I had a really nice time there. I am a nature person and I have noticed that the buildings at the shrines and temples are not the only beautiful things to observe. The temples and shrines I visited had beautiful paths through the forest with gorgeous plants, flowers, and streams. It was very relaxing and calm as there were almost no sounds except for an occasional bird chirping or stream flowing. It was very peaceful and I honestly cannot come close to explaining it with words so I will just say it is an experience I advise anyone to try.

We also visited Hasedera Temple which was also beautiful and interesting.