Day 09 - Saturday 4th August

Our plan for today was to go to Nara which is about 45 minutes away by JR train. Once again, we had breakfast at the hotel buffet on level 2.

The train was quite crowded when we left Kyoto - it was like catching a suburban train to Parramatta. We got a seat but initially we weren't able to find seats next to each other. The train stopped half a dozen times before Nara and most people got off the train at these intermediate stations.

At Nara, we went to the tourist information centre at the railway station. She gave us a new map and marked out a suggested route that she said would take about three hours visiting the main highlights of Nara.

We followed her advice and starting walking up a west-bound street, stopping in at some shops along the way. It was cloudy and warm - the temperate was probably only in the low to mid 30s while the sun was behind the clouds but the humidity was higher.

The first destination site she suggested was the Three-Storey Pagoda. Worth a visit. However, we were just about the only people there.

Nearby was the second destination, Kofukuji Temple and the Five-Storey Pagoda. This was more impressive and much more popular with the tour groups. The buildings in this area were well worth the visit but the highlight here was the deer roaming the plaza.

We'd heard that Nara is famous for the deer that have been allowed to roam freely throughout the city for hundreds of years. People sell small packets of crisps to the tourists so they can feed to the deer. The deer can smell the crisps and gently approach you and nudge you for a feed. The males are bigger and have long antlers. They are more pushy than the females.

Next we moved on to Nara Park, a very large park with numerous grassed areas, trees, paths, shrines, more deer and people selling deer food. We tried to find the most shaded paths to avoid the heat of the sun.

The next destination was Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Once again worth a visit. They seemed to like lanterns here - there were dozens of them in gold and green colours.

By this time, we were ready for a break and so we went back down the hill to a tea house we'd passed earlier. This was pleasant break in a small air-conditioned structure where we had coffee and flavoured shaved ice - very refreshing.

The final destination that the tourist information centre had recommended was the Todaiji Temple which was about 1km away through the park. At first we were unsure whether we would make it this far. The Michelin Green Guide gave it the top three-star rating and the lady at the tourist information centre seemed to be insistent that we go there.

The path leading there was busy and, as you might expect, had plenty of deer waiting for a feed. There were large tourist buses parked nearby. The entrance path and building were impressive but these were just leading up to the climax.

As is often the case, there was a fee to enter this site. It was worth every penny, cent, dollar, pound, peso, etc. you could offer - even yen. They claim it is the largest timber building in the world. I'm not sure if this is correct but the structure is impressive - very impressive.

Inside the building, there is a huge Buddha statue with two other large statues - one on either side - dating back more than 1250 years. Once again, very impressive.

It seems to me, that this is a must-see site for a visit to Nara. It was the highlight of the day (with the possible exception of hand-feeding the deer). It's easy to see why Michelin gives it the top rating and the tourist information centre emphasised it. Just in case you haven't got the message yet: this place is worth going to.

By this time, the heat was getting to us and we both were having trouble with sore knees and so we decided to catch the bus back to Nara railway station instead of walking.

It was now mid-afternoon and we still hadn't had a proper lunch. The easier option was to go to the KFC next to the station. It even had a life-size statue of Colonel Sanders near the entrance - he had an advertising placard around his neck written in Japanese.

Once back at Kyoto, Suzy decided to go to the department store that is part of the JR complex at the station. I went back to our room.

At dinner time, we first went to the JR ticket office to reserve our seats for the train trip tomorrow back to Tokyo on the bullet train.

Then we explored the west side of the building complex. Starting from the concourse area (level 2), there are a series of escalators in a direct line in this huge cavernous structure leading up and up and up to a garden area on level 15 (??) with a view of the city in most directions.

One level down, we saw a restaurant or two and then more and more and more - all part of the department store complex and part of the western building labelled as "The Cube". Lots of choice - in fact, almost too much choice.

After working past all the restaurants, we decided to go to one with an Italian theme. Good food, great service and a nice bottle of Italian red.

At the restaurant, we were initially puzzled by a small unobtrusive canvas bin on the floor next to our table and similar containers at every other table. After a while we realised that people were putting their bags, handbags, backpacks and shopping parcels in there.

Back in our room we tuned the TV to BBC World. Apart from world events, they were giving updates on the Olympics. Naturally, they were mainly talking about British competitors.