Kyoto Imoerial Palace then off to Nara!

Trip Start May 10, 2007
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Trip End Jun 14, 2007


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Where I stayed
(Nara hotels)

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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Imperial Palace at 10 a.m. Ummm, well, I suppose in it's day it kicked ass but it was kind of a drag. I dislike being in groups and we had to tour it in a group. The garden was amazing however. I just think it's a bit nuts all the hoops you have to jump through to get into this place and they wouldn't even let me sit on the throne. Since I have a mini crush on the long dead and totally emo Meji emperor, I feel it was rightful place anyways. I got to see where he slept and ate though, which was pretty neat.
We headed out of Kyoto on the train to Nara. This was the first time I experienced any kind of delay in Japan. Punctuality is a HUGE deal here, so it was a bit disarming to wait at a station and not know what the hell the problem was. The hotel Nikko is right next to the train station so that makes it pretty easy. In fact, the hotel is very near to everything!
Nara is a wonderful place. It has much more character I think than Kyoto even though it is significantly smaller.
We hit up two temples and one shrine in the Nara "Deer Park". What a lovely place. The deer just cruise around unafraid of the people. You can pet them. The rack on the boys are covered in this musky scented velvet. It feels really oily and strange. A once in a lifetime experience I think. The Big Buddha was AMAZING! What was really impressive was the size of the pagoda that housed it.
The weather was perfect today as well. The Yanks one I see on TV, and there is a cold can of Asahi waiting for me in the mini-fridge of my cozy hotel room! Life is pretty fantastic!
I think Nara is the one place a really want to come back to and spend a lot of time at. I hope you all enjoy the pictures on the website. Here is a link incase you don't have it for some reason http://web.mac.com/misspia/iWeb/Site/Japan%206.html

Miss you all!
Pia

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