Kyoto/Nara

Greetings Everyone & Happy Thanksgiving! Well we just got off the phone (Skype) with the whole Braaten household who were having their Thanksgiving dinner. Gotta love technology as it was pretty cool to see everyones smiling faces... and nobody cried... at all lol.

For the last four days we have be travelling through Central Japan otherwise known as the Kansai Region... the cultural heartland of the country. I can see why it gets that tag... lots of temples and shrines... way too many to take in during our short stay in the region. We stopped in Kyoto first and unfortunately we had booked a dorm room to sleep in. I have nothing against dorm rooms... however it's somewhat difficult to get a good nights rest with others coming and going... or when you both have top bunks and someone likes to cuddle... needless to say not much room or relaxation lol. We both agreed not to stay in dorm rooms again for the remainder of this trip unless absolutely necessary lol.

Kyoto, like most places we've visited in Japan is just full of beautiful gardens...

We really enjoy getting out of the hustle and bustle of the city and retreating to the gardens... very peaceful and very zen.

After spending some relaxing time in the gardens we headed out to check out some of the historic temples. Before the entrance to any shrine you are supposed to wash your hands...

He had water coming out of his mouth for that purpose... very impressive...

The temples are truly beautiful and you can just smell the history inside of them... however to be perfectly honest after I've seen a few they start to look the same and become less mystifying.

This temple is called Toji...

Very awe inspiring. And again very impressive gardens that surround it.

The next day we headed out to see what is rated the number one tourist site in all of Japan... The Golden Pavilion. And it was BEAUTIFUL!

The pictures you can get there are amazing. But what you don't see is that we were absolutely just flogged by tourists on all sides fighting to get pictures. So yes it's beautiful but hardly peaceful Aunty Marlene.

This crossed our path on the way out lol...

There's always something new and exciting here at every turn.

The next day we caught the train out of Kyoto to the Nara region only about 40 min away by train. It was actually really busy here because we arrived on Sunday and as it turned out it was the annual Antler Cutting Festival where they cut the horns off all the male deer throughout the park. Deer?? Ya there's a few here in Nara...

All so tame!!... there are vendors throughout the park that sell these thin baked grain cookies which you can then feed to them (a healthier alternative to the Pringles that I was originally feeding them lol). It was amazing to see how tame and cocky they can become. Very used to the tourists. The park was extremely busy with tourists of course due to the Antler Festival, so there were kids running around everywhere and some even chasing the deer... not gonna lie really enjoyed when the deer would bite the shitty little kids and send 'em crying lol!

After getting our kicks with the deer we headed off to see Todaiji which was the whole reason we came here to Nara.

Todaiji is the largest wooden structure in the world and it's very impressive. It also houses an extremely large Buddha figure... 15m high!

Our Hotel here in Nara is just fabulous and last night we got some well deserved rest (12hrs). We have definitly been hitting the pavement hard here everyday... wish I had pedometer to keep track of the km's... my feet tell me it's lots! Back to Kyoto today to catch the bullet train to Hiroshima where we'll be seeing the A-Bomb Memorial and Peace Park. I'm sure it'll be very humbling and nothing short of impressive. Talk to you all soon.