We took our time this morning, as trains to Nara run every ten minutes. Ollie shared some of his new photos with us at breakfast on Mr. O’Brien’s computer and Jonno and Richard reported that they felt as good as new.
The train to Nara took about 50 minutes; it was a slower regional train. We had learned that Nara was an old capital of Japan. Although it was only the capital for 75 years, its influence on Japanese culture was great. We were all looking forward to seeing the deer in the Nara Park and the great Buddhas in the Todai-Ji Temple, listed as a World Heritage site in 1998. The original temple was built in the Nara period (710-794 AD); the temple was reconstructed in the Edo period (1615-1867). The current building is about a third smaller than the original structure, but it still ranks as the largest wooden structure in the world.
We had a nice leisurely walk up from the station to Nara Park, home of the Todai-Ji Temple. At the park, we again split into three groups to explore.
Mr. O’Brien’s group of Ben, Sam, Alex H., Natalia and Aisleen went up to see the deer in the park first. The park is home to over one thousand tame deer. We all bought some deer biscuits to share with them. Sam and Alex were able to feed the deer by hand. Natalia seemed to attract the most deer to her, at one point becoming surrounded by fauns and does. We wandered over to the temple and took a walk through. We were all amazed at the size of both the Buddhas and the building.
Ms. Tebbutt’s group of Year 8 boys fed the deer as well. They made their way into a forested area of the park and sat amongst the them. They walked around a pond and savoured their time in nature away from the rush and noise of the city and other tourists.
Ms. Gracia’s group of boys also wandered by the temple and played with the deer. They then showed off their wooden weaponry in the park, accumulated over several days of scouring souvenir shops. As they are unsure whether customs will allow them to take wooden souvenirs back through into Australia, they are making the most of them now!
As we were all regrouping at our designated meeting spot, we had a bit of excitement. Anthony slipped on some stairs and banged his ear and cut himself. To be on the safe side, we called an ambulance to take him and Ms. Tebbutt to the hospital. By Anthony’s accounts, the trip through the streets of Nara was “awesome.” Cars parted and traffic lights changed as they raced along. Fortunately, Anthony’s cut was only superficial, and he and Ms. Tebbutt rejoined the group at the train station.
Back in Kyoto, we went to the food court of a department store for a tasty dinner of varied Japanese fare before retiring for another early evening.
Tomorrow we take the shinkansen to Hiroshima for our last day and night before we fly out on Tuesday evening.
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