Before we left the lunch restaurant though, we had to enjoy the encouraging artwork on the walls...
And then we settled in for our bus ride, marveling at the impressive network of roads as we left Kyoto.
Nara Park is known for its population of tame deer. They roam freely, on the prowl for any food that an unsuspecting tourist might let slip. As a result, this was the first thing we saw upon arrival.
This poor guy was accosted by deer within three seconds of purchasing some of the special deer biscuits. He managed to hold onto them for roughly ten seconds.
This deer probably brags about his prowess with the ladies in the pub every night.
But the deer weren't the reason we were visiting Nara Park. We were there to see the Todaiji Temple located on its grounds. First, we had to pass through this gate...
Inside which there were these enormous timber warrior statues (behind wire to protect them from birds). They were extremely impressive.
Although I was particularly mesmerised by the view upwards, all the way to the roof of the gate.
The path to the entrance to the Todaiji Temple complex was a long one...
Although we were entertained along the way by the warning signs about the deer.
And alongside the path was this little lake, with a mini shrine and Torii gate on the island in the centre.
And of course, there were deer everywhere, begging to be fed. Although this guy looked much to imperious to beg.
And then we arrived at the building that essentially served as the reception desk (i.e. ticket office) for the Todaiji Temple. I was intrigued by the fact that the red paint looked like it was dripping down the doors.
The walls inside the building showed more evidence that the paint is easily relocated.
And it was from inside that building that we got our first glimpse of the Daibutsuden (the Great Buddha Hall).
And then we were finally inside the Todaiji Temple complex.
Like most important historical structures in Japan, it has been rebuilt a few times in the past. Unfortunately timber buildings don't tend to stand up particularly well to fire.
Nearby is this little gold spire, which is apparently on the roof of the bell tower.
As we approached the the Great Buddha Hall, its height was pretty awe-inspiring.
And as always, the intricate ceiling impressed me.
And of course, inside the Great Buddha Hall is the biggest Buddha statue I have ever seen. Apparently it's the world's largest bronze Buddha.
We of course had to snap a touristy shot in the presence of such greatness.
And we slowly wandered around the building. It's a lot more colourful than we're used to for the insides of Japanese temples!
And as always, we were most impressed by something that wasn't the main attraction (i.e. the giant Buddha), and that was this staircase.
Here it is from the side. Is that not the tallest, steepest, and un-safest staircase you ever did see?
Once we got past our disbelief at that staircase, we moved on to admire more timber warrior statues...
And a sample of the sheer size of the timber pillars supporting the roof of the building.
And while we're on the topic of giant timber pillars, there's one that has a little tiny tunnel inside it, just so that idiot tourists can make fools of themselves. Need I say more?
If one fails in one direction, try the other way.
I'm sorry to report that my husband's shoulders appear to be wider than the average Japanese person's shoulders. His attempts did not meet with success. I was just thankful that he didn't get himself stuck.
We made our way out the exit, waved to this aproned statue at the front, and went for a little wander around the grounds.
More deer, in a much more peaceful-looking pursuit of food than we were used to...
Some trees... I know, exciting stuff. I thought they were pretty.
Tom tried his hand at deer-whispering on our way back to the bus. Unfortunately that isn't as effective when one is only pretending to have food. The deer caught on pretty quickly and gave up in disgust.
We took a short bus ride to our next stop on the tour, Kasuga Shrine. The path to the shrine begins with lions...
And continues with many many many stone lanterns surrounding it.
The oldest ones are the prettiest, I think.
There are Torii gates that appear to lead to nowhere...
And even here, the deer rule. This deer was sitting right in the middle of a beautifully raked stone garden. No respect!
The shrine itself was very impressive.
And the lanterns just seemed to go on forever.
As we were on our way back to the bus again, we came across a mummy and baby deer. We had a little boy as part of our tour group, and he was making some valiant attempts to approach the baby deer. The mother was having none of it. It got very angry. Don't worry though, there was no biting, kicking, butting or knocking-down.
Our bus returned us to Kyoto just as night was falling, and we decided to go exploring (and searching for food). This was the view along the river.
We headed into the Gion district, and I wish we could have found a restaurant with this particular view! No such luck, though.
We briefly considered this restaurant, since if they go to that much effort with their window display, surely the food must be good?
But we eventually decided on a little tucked away traditional place that served things on skewers, just like our meal of the previous evening. And we stuffed our faces. Unfortunately our enjoyment of the food was a little bit compromised by the fact that our fellow customers were allowed to smoke while they ate, but we survived.
As we re-approached the river, we decided that we had to investigate what all the brightly lit tents were there for.
And it's a night market of sorts!
There was live music...
So we wandered through, seeing what there was to be seen. A blow torch seemed to be the cooking implement of choice.
Although not where the okonomiyake was concerned. It was good to watch how it was made up close.
We then took our tired feet back to our hotel (which in retrospect we should have done via subway, not on foot), briefly admired some pretty bamboo candles along the way...
And the efficiency of this two-storey parking garage a couple of doors down from our hotel...
And we tumbled into bed, very thankful that we didn't have any more tours booked for the following day, so we could take things a bit easier.
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