Kyoto Day 2 and Nara

June 2, 2014

Last day of temples and shrines in Japan! I can’t believe this trip is already coming to an end.

We started the day with a visit to the Golden Pavilion. The Golden Pavilion is exactly what it sounds like: a beautiful lakeside temple coated in sheets of gold. Like Cuzco’s palace in The Emperor’s New Groove.

Next on our stop was a traditional zen garden. 

Zen gardens are designed to showcase certain Japanese ideals of beauty: simplicity, asymmetry, and tranquility to name a few.  

While the symbolism behind these gardens is interesting, I have to admit that I much prefer yesterday’s gardens! (Although the zen garden was much kinder to this allergy sufferer’s nose!) 

After the zen garden, the crew piled onto the bus for a day trip to Nara.

Once in Nara, a few hungry friends and I wandered into an awesome udon shop! Oh my goodness. Udon is usually not my favorite of the Japanese noodles, but this one was in a delicious ginger soup, full of at least half a dozen types of mushrooms. Mmm! 

Bellies full, we reunited with the rest of the group to head into a beautiful art museum.

I think something like 80% of Japan’s National Treasures are housed in the art museum we visited! I couldn’t take pictures, so take my word for it when I say that the art was full of spectacular and ancient statues. 

We left the museum and next headed to see the Big Buddha. The Big Buddha is the largest statue of Buddha in Japan (even bigger than the giant Buddha statue I saw in Kyoto!) and it is housed in the largest wooden building in Japan, possibly in the world!

But before I get to Buddha, I have to tell you about the DEER.
That’s right… There are deer in Nara! Right in the middle of this big, metropolitan city! The first time I saw one, right before walking into the museum, I started freaking out. It was just randomly right by the street, following some lady around. I started squealing and ran to take a selfie with it. 

Dr. Baba laughed at me and told me not to worry about getting a good picture of the deer, because I was about to be swarmed by them. 

He was right!
As we approached the Big Buddha temple, we found ourselves in a sea of deer. You’ve never seen so many deer! Nor have you ever seen such domesticated ones.

They live right outside of the museum and bother the visitors. 

Many vendors sell cookies for the deer just outside of the museum, and the deer will follow anyone with cookies around and beg for them just like puppies!
I found it funny that the only time during my whole three weeks that I was warned to watch my wallet was at the temple… because the deer like to eat anything that looks like paper, including money! 

The actual temple and the statues inside are beautiful. We all had a great time exploring the beautiful temple on another gorgeous day! 

When we’d all finished checking out the temple (and playing with the deer!), we got back on the bus and headed back to Kyoto. 

Once in Kyoto, a couple of friends and I went exploring in the subway mall near our hotel, and ended up finding these beautiful lit stairs and a terrace with a view of the Kyoto skyline. 

It has been a great trip and I cannot believe that tomorrow morning I return to Tokyo for the last time! I’m ready to see my family and friends again, but not at all ready to leave Japan! If I had my people and some real Tex Mex, I could stay here forever!