Today was dedicated to the trip to Nara. We met at the lobby at 8am and then rode the subway to Kyoto Station where we again had breakfast at Doutour. After breakfast we had time to get to the Nara platforms and wait for the rapid train to Nara. All the trains to Nara from Kyoto go through tracks 8, 9 and 10 and some are local trains and some rapid trains with less stops. We took the 9:15 rapid train which got fairly well filled up. The ride took slightly longer than 45 minutes.
Upon arriving in Nara the station was obviously under rennovation so we had to spin around a couple times till we figured out where the local tourist office was. The lady gave us a map and said it was a 15 minute walk to Nara Park and that is the main body of where to go in Nara. There are several temples in the park and a couple pagodas as well as some shrines, gates and a few museums. The weather was a bit grey but the temperature was not bad so it was basically a pleasant day. We sort of didn't follow the tourist office lady's suggestions for a route to a T but managed to get through the trip in about the 4-5 hours she suggested. Right off Sanjo street is the 3 storied pagoda. From there we found the 5 storied pagoda and Kohfukuji Temple. At about the point of the 5 story pagoda we started to see the deer that run around Nara Park. They are tame in the sense that they are not skittish around people and many vendors sell crackers to feed them. There are literally hundreds of the things all over the park. They come up to people looking for food at every chance they can get. There are a lot of toys and other deer marketed things in Nara.
I had thought we were in the majority of what had to be seen and was a bit surprised at how small things were by this point. We found a turtle pond and walked around that then we found the maps that suggested we still had a huge area of park that we had missed. This meant we had to guide ourselves further east then to the north to Todaji Temple after passing through the Nandaimon gate. Both are huge and the temple houses a very large Buddha statue. From the temple we worked our way around the perimeter of the park to the Kasuga Grand Shrine which had tons and tons of stone lanterns all around it. I was sort of stone lanterned out for photos so I didn't take a lot of pictures there. At that poin we found our way back through the deer park through some of the less landscaped areas and back into the main grounds of the park. Along all of this we saw literally deer everywhere but oddly there were much less in the wilder areas of the park.
By this point we had been in Nara for over 4 hours and we opted to head back in towards Sanjo Dori, the main street. We turned into one of the mall alleys and found what turned out to be a Chinese restaurant to eat at. Ronni had a chinese omelette and I had some dumplings which were tasty as well as crab claws in chili sauce and some white rice. The claws had their shells so it became and interesting exercise in eating them with the chopsticks but I got the majority of the meat off them. I would be curious to know how I was supposed to do it from someone who knows. They were very yummy but the chili sauce was more sweet than anything. Still I enjoyed them. I coupled that up with a beer and the green tea they served as a matter of course. After the lunch we walked further into the mall and found a Mr Donut. I wanted a donut as soon as I spotted it in the mall before we decided where we were eating. We got a couple donuts and I had a coffee.
After the donuts we made our way back to the station and headed back in to Kyoto. The sun finally broke out of the clouds at this point but I was not happy about it because it turned the train into a cooker box and I was dying to get out of it by the time finally arrived back in Kyoto in about 50 minutes or so. We caught the subway up to the room. Ronni had decided she wasn't going to eat dinner, so I relaxed for a few minutes before deciding to go out and forage for food. I had to let lunch settle a bit. I used that time to get this written and watch some TV and recover from the heat of the train. I have a touch of sunburn all over again. I suspect most of it happened from Sunday but even the cloudy days can increase the exposure. I am not lobster red but I have a tinge of pink on my face anyway.
Oh, I should mention. This is Nara's 1300th anniversary. As an American it is nearly impossible to think of a city being 1300 years old because we're lucky to see something in the 400 year range. Still Nara was a capital before Kyoto which was capital before Edo (which is now Tokyo). I believe it was capital when the official structure was a bit less firm than it was by the time Kyoto became capital, though I will have to reread the history I read before the trip to give you all something accurate. Something I am not doing right now. It is evident with the signs all over the city that they are celebrating the anniversary (or birthday depending on how you look at it) and that is supposed to be a year long celebration. I suspect they have some really big things brewing for the summer time as there was tons of construction happening all over the parts of the city and park that we saw. Aside from the signs it appears they were just mainly in Sakura mode right now however so we didn't see any special 1300 year festival type things or anything. Still it is obviously something significant as not many cities can stand in the same place for that long in the world.
I also forgot to mention on the Imperial Palace day that the guide did mention The Tale of Genji in reference to the palace. I read the book before the last trip to Japan. It is a big heavy book and is more about the politics of the time than anything, so no a stirring samurai story or the like but I did find it an intersting read. If you are interested in Japan and want a look into the culture I would definitely recommend it.
I should also mention that the Sakura were really in bloom through Nara. The pinker ones were still in the early stages but they were definitely more open than I had seen in Kyoto.
Minus Ronni I decided to try the B1F place on the corner f Karasuma and Oike. It is an Izakuya as far as I can tell but all the other guests were eating as well. We had come across it in search of food a few days ago but all the signs looked like sushi. I figured it would be a good chance to get sushi since Ronni wasn't along. There didn't appear to be a true menu, just a special board or some such? The staff spoke as little English as I speak Japanese. I was able to order a beer and suggest I wanted to eat and that I would like sashimi. They ordered me a sashimi set that involved shrimp, scallops, salmon, tuna, octopus, a red colored fish and a white fish I could not identify. I ate all that and the wasabi was fresh and perfect. I have to admit I left the shrimp heads and tails behind. I am not the biggest shrimp nut and the extras are a bit more than I want to crunch on. In the course of the meal I had 2 more beers and eventually the waiter told me that pile of stuff I thought was ginger, which I don't typically eat was actually a ground tuna, kind of in between a paste and a tartare. When he told me it was tuna I ate it and it was enjoyable though due to its ground nature it absorbed so much more soy sauce than the standard cuts of fish did. All in all the meal was extremely enjoyable and the walk was very short. After I was done eating and drinking there I walked back to the room finished my other beer and ate the macadamia nuts I bought the night before. From there it was time to relax for a while and watch a goofy Japanese game show with a guy I've seen on a dozen other shows before as one of the hosts.
The pictures for Day 9 are located here.
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