The Sacred Messengers

Friday

This should say caution this is the deer garden.

Today we got to start off the day with some sightseeing in Nara, the old capital of Japan. We got on a tour bus and our guide proceeded to tell us all about the history and spectacle of Nara's temples and other attractions

Follow the leader

Our tour guide was amazing and she spoke english very well which made the drive over and overall experience much more enjoyable. The worst part was getting attacked by the deer after purchasing a few of their favorite snacks. I managed to distribute a few to the other guys so they would all try to eat my backpack in an attempt to get a prize.

The deer attack begins

No cookies in that pocket!

The temples themselves were amazingly large. I've been to New York and other big cities where the building are towering over you at every turn, but the craftsmanship and the detail in addition to the age of the buildings, made me appreciate the feats even more.

Statues looks like a hologram in person

First sight of the main temple

The roomie C. Kynes

We spent about an hour walking throughout the main temple taking pictures and soaking in the experience. It was something way out of the ordinary (no temples like this in Palo Alto) but an awesome work of art to behold. We ended up walking a look around the main Buddha statue and them purchasing a few items from the gift shop afterward. The experience was something I'll not soon forget and we were lucky enough to get a group picture out front.

We left the Buddha temple and headed to a smaller part of the city that housed a huge shopping complex full of places to eat and pick up souvenirs along the way. We explored for a little while, about and hour and a half or so before we had to rest and get some food. This is all happening before practice and walking around taking pictures in the hot humid weather can be tiring! Luckily we had a short bus ride to nap on the way to practice. 

Overall the shopping and sightseeing was an awesome way to start the day. I'm really glad we got to go sightseeing and take in some of the original landmarks of Japan. The original capital is something worth making the trip to see.