Woke up about 07:30, clean up and down for breakfast, the usual mix of Asian and not very nice Western food. Had cereal and yoghurt and cold bacon.
Walked to Kyoto station and went to a bank to change some money, coffee at a Starbucks then through the station which had a large underground shopping mall, mostly food outlets. The weather was perfect, sunny and about 22c. Grabbed a couple of rolls from a French boulangerie (there are a lot of French shops here) then bought tickets to Nara Park to visit the temple there. The train was packed with both tourists and locals but managed to get a seat.
Took about an hour, then about a 20 minute walk to the main bit. The park has several temples, the world’s largest brass Buddha and is famous for the deer. They are everywhere, follow you around, sniff for food, are unperturbed by the crowds, and they lie down in the middle of the path, in front of shops and pee and poo everywhere.
I got lightly butted by one, another stuck it’s nose in our bag, and one gave Song a pretty hard whack and they stopped being cute.
Found a seat away from the deer and ate our rolls, then walked about 1km to the main temple with the Buddha. There were a lot of people (and deer), but we got through pretty quickly. There were also quite a few women in traditional clothing and a few men.
Hopped on the bus to the station and got the train to Inari for another temple and famous Torii (the wooden gates that look like a pi symbol).
It was also packed but managed to get some photos.
Back on the train again to Kyoto and decided to get something to eat at the station because we had had enough of walking, buses and trains for the day. I had a fried pork cutlet on rice and egg with a small bowl of noodles, Song had a seafood thing with some tempura. It was quite good and cost about $30.
Another 5 minute walk to the hotel where we went straight to the bar for our free drink – I thought it was just when you arrived, but it’s every day.
Suitably lubricated, back to the room to relax after another long day.
Tomorrow is yet another temple, then old Kyoto.
