We heard so much about Nara from several people that we decided we'd make the day trip from Osaka to visit the town (since it was only a 40 minute train ride.) I'm so glad we decided to get out of the big city and check out this ancient town capital, since it was truly unique compared to many of the places we had exprienced thus far in Japan. 

The first thing that struck us as we approached the town was the amount of open land and greenery this region contained.  Unlike Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka, which are over-taken with concrete and skyscrapers, Nara had a more open, suburban feel.

With just one day to spend in this area we focused our attention to Nara Park, which is where most of Nara's sights, including temples, shrines and famously mercenary deer are concentrated. 

That's right, you heard deer.  There were literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of deer roaming around freely in the Nara Park area.  I'm not talking like Golden Gate Park style where they say there are buffaloes in the park, and you may be lucky if you see a couple of them poke their heads out through a chain-link fence.  These deer were out and about everywhere, and we actually were encouraged to feed them (don't think they'd appreciate this with the buffaloes).  We had a fun time feeding them little biscuits, and watching them harass us for more food.  We were reminded about our precious little Hank, since these deer are quite similar when it comes to how food obsessed they are.  It seems the only time they give you any affection is when they think they're going to get something yummy to eat, just like our little man. So, we spent much of our day hanging out with deer.

The one temple we really wanted to check out in the park was Tōdai-ji (東大寺), which is home to the Daibutsu (大仏), the largest Buddha statue in Japan and one of the largest in the world.  The Daibutsu-den, which houses the statue, is said to be the largest wooden building in the world and it was definitely quite large and magnificent. At this point we've seen a ton of temples, shrines, palaces, and I think the Todai-ji was our favorite.  Set up against the backdrop of Nara park and the mountains, with deer roaming around the area, gave this place a very special feel.  Add to that the cherry blossoms being in bloom, and you have a beautiful combination.

The rest of our day in Nara we just roamed freely through the park.  We stopped at a couple of the ponds, one to just sit and relax by, and the other one to watch the cute little turtles swimming around.  We ended our day with a stroll through the Naramachi neighborhood (at least we think we were there), and sampled a delicious, gooey, green delight, that was filled with red beans - it was quite good.

Nara will no doubt stick out in my mind as a special place I would like to spend some more time in some day.