Nara

Nara was Japan's capital in the 8th Century and there were some historic buildings to see, so we caught the train this morning to have a look. There were, in fact, a number of temples and shrines, including Todai-ji Temple, the world's largest wooden building and Kasuga-taisha, an amazing place primarily through the vast numbers of stone lanterns - over 3000 in fact. There was also a delightful garden, Yoshiki-en, with free entry as long as you have ID. Although the garden was not that big, it was laid out in such a way that you wandered for quite some time, seeing a pond, a thatched tea-house and a look out shelter, amongst other little structures. We cut through the main park, avoiding the deer who, like on our visit to Miyajima, would eat anything that was stationery. Our lunch was taken in a little, but quite trendy, pizzaria called Mellow Cafe - we shared a pizza and some ribs. There were really pretty good. Then back to the train station where there was a massage room and we treated ourselves to a back and leg massage respectively - the therapist certainly knew her stuff as it was very good indeed.