Nara

Nearly up-to-date now, after modern Osaka we decided to get a bit more history in Nara. Nara was the Japanese Capital for 74 years from 710 and a large portion of the city is covered by a Unesco World Heritage site. It is also a rather pretty city that is easy to walk around with lots of nice food. Win, win, win. Oh and it is only 45 minutes from Osaka.

It is hard to miss the history in Nara, it is everywhere

There are so many parks and open spaces that we spent the afternoon just walking around, enjoying the landscaping.

It is easy to find the tourist information offices, most of them have sculptures outside.

Although it was very over cast we had a nice sun set

The blossom is still trying to come out but it is just not time yet

The other thing that is hard to miss about Nara are the Deer, thousands of them.

Aimee should have been watching this one closer

The guy in the picture below is laughing so hard because I am laughing really hard, just before this picture Aimee was getting bitten on the bum by a very persistent Deer that wanted the Deer cookies that she had just bought. And no I didn't help her because I was laughing too hard.

We made him smile anyway

We were really lucky to arrive in Nara when we did because we were able to go and experience the Omizutori ceremony. The ceremony seems to last for several days but the part we witnessed involved carry burning bundles around the balcony of one of the temples. It is very hard to explain and was equally hard to photograph but it was spectacular and the crowd had the sort of energy you normally get at live music, there was a lot of noise as people reacted to the falling embers, which are supposed to keep away evil.

Waiting

The ball of fire is on the end of a long pole waved by a monk.

We were rather hungry after all the walking so we decided to try a Kansai speciality Okonomiyaki. This is basically a massive pancake/omelette with cabbage in it and other stuff on top (the other stuff is up to you that is what the name means). This batter is then cooked on a Japanese hot plate at your table, it was delicious and incredibly filling.

Okonomiyaki - Whatever you like, fried

The perfect accompaniment was a nice hot bottle of Sake which left Aimee a little.. shall we say drowsy on the walk home!

The next day we went to see Nara's main claim to fame Tōdai-ji the worlds largest wooden building and the Nara Daibutsu (large Buddha image).

This building just feels massive

This Buddha image is big, the expression of peace on the face is very beautiful.

Neither disappointed; the building was just monumental, because it is in a large open space it is difficult to take in the scale at first but it finally hits you when you come back out again and you realise it is all wood! The Nara Daibutsu is big but it is the pose and the style of the carving that are most striking, the expression on the face is so peaceful that we found ourselves just stood there looking at it for ages.

We came out feeling very zen and spent the rest of the day walking around the parks taking pictures of Deer.