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Published: April 17th 2024
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Late start today because Krissy and Oscar slept in until 8:30. We still managed to catch the 9:30 train to Nara and got there about an hour later after one train change. As usual we picked up some buns for breakfast and with just 10 minutes to spare Krissy decided to line up at Starbucks for coffees and matcha latte and made an order. Daisy and I waited for the drinks so Krissy and Oscar would have time to find an elevator if needed. We just made it in time at 9.30 and got to Kintetsu-Nara station just over an hour later.
We started walking towards Nara Park and there were deer everywhere on the footpath outside the park. Vendors are selling Deer crackers at strategic places for $2. We bought some and entered the park proper to feed the deer. Some of the deer were a bit too enthusiastic and Oscar got a bit worried, so we got rid of crackers quickly and proceeded onto our first stop, Kofuku-ji Buddhist temple. Unfortunately, the 5 storey Pagoda and Eastern Golden Hall are closed for extensive renovations, so we only saw the Central Golden Hall, which had some statues. Not sure
if it was worth the entry fee to be honest.
Then onto Yoshikien Gardens. Oscar even enjoyed walking along the stone paths with us and inspecting the gardens. Entry was free which was a bonus.
We then had a longer walk to one of the major stops, Todai-ji Daibutsuden which houses a giant gold Buddha and other large statues. It was all quite impressive, Krissy was feeling tired because she'd been pushing Oscar in his pram plus her backpack etc up hill all morning. We decided to press on as there were places to eat near our next stop, Todai-ji Shoro, the Bell Tower. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table but the food was nice and it gave us time to recuperate after all the walking.
We then continued walking uphill to reach Todai-ji Nigatsudo (Second Month Hall). Another impressive Buddhist hall where the Shuni-e Ceremony is held here during the second month of the lunar calendar. By now it was 16:30 and we decided to head back towards Kintetsu-Nara Station.
There is small shopping arcade at the station and we couldn't resist checking out the Daiso store. After purchasing a few
items and walking down to the end of the arcade, it was 17:30, so we decided to just have hamburgers for dinner, mainly because Oscar saw them and asked to have then. We were ready for some Western style food in any case after 10 days of Japanese. There was McDonalds or a Japanese company called Mos Burgers and we chose Mos, so in a way we were still doing Japanese. The burgers were good, so we were happy with that.
Then an easy train ride back to Kyoto with no changes. On arrival I went to a JR West office to try and cancel tomorrow's planned Sagano Romantic Train ride as even though the conditions say you can cancel with full refund up to midnight the day before, I could not see how to cancel them. the man at the JR office tried his best to help me but even though they no longer sell those tickets, he still tried to help me cancel, but he had exactly the same problem as I did. There just isn't anywhere on the web site to cancel. In the end we decided we would just go ahead and do the train
ride anyway. Look forward to tomorrows exciting instalment to see how good or bad it is.
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