Nara--Day 3

Our last day of vacation was spent in Nara, about thirty minutes south of where we were staying.  We started with visiting the Todaiji temple, which was incredible and I we were all excited to see the big Buddha.  We took our Laila temple books and had them signed and then as we were leaving they were doing a ceremony, which we didn't understand any of but it was cool to experience.  We walked out to Nara Park and bought crackers to feed the free-roaming deer.  The deer are not just in the park, they are everywhere.  We saw some deer in one of the shops and one deer was trying to get into the temple.  It had climbed the stairs and was on its way in.  We also saw a group of Japanese students all laughing at a deer that stole someone's homework and was eating it.  We thought it would be pretty funny when the kid had to tell his teacher that instead of a dog eating his homework, a deer did.  

The deer at the park were super aggressive.  They were head butting me, biting my clothes, and even chewed on the button of my jacket.  I handed off the crackers to Mike and then we watched them do the same to him.  We walked over to a spot with less deer and bought more crackers and the lady used hand motions to explain that if we hold the crackers up, the deer will bow and then you can feed them.  They were still a little aggressive, but less so.  

After the park we walked to Kasuga Taisha shrine.  It was also incredible, though much more quiet and less busy than the temple.  I loved all the mossy lanterns and beautiful forests.  The girls were really hungry at this point so we bought them ice cream from a vending machine and let them eat it on the steps.  The deer all wanted their ice cream but Mike and Isaac stood watch.  The deer here were much more interested and less aggressive thankfully.  One deer was very interested in what Will was reading on his phone and kept peering over his shoulder and finally Will turned the screen towards the deer and a group of Japanese school girls were in the background giggling.  

We walked back to the van after the shrine, drove back to the house and played games, read books, and finished up doing laundry and packing, then ate a late dinner and left the following morning.