Deer Diary, I Love Nara

As you can tell by my super witty title, Nara is the greatest place ever and also home to deer. Lots and lots of deer. I absolutely loved it.

Nara is a stones throw from Kyoto and up there with one of the most magical places I've ever been. While Nara has some great sights, I mainly loved the city thanks to our furry forest friends. Although I had heard how deer roamed the streets freely and were friendly with humans, it was another thing entirely to actually experience it. My Disney princess dreams from youth finally came to fruition.

But let's not forget the fantastic Todai-ji temple or the Daibutsu, a 15 meter high bronze Buddha. They were amazing to see and some of my favorite sights from the trip.

We arrived in Nara bright and early (noticing a theme here?), and began walking towards Nara park. Immediately we saw deer casually standing around on the sidewalk. Some were following people who had bought food for the deer (100¥). It was a beautiful sight.

We ended up following the Lonely Planet guide to the park so we could see everything. Our first stop was a pretty garden (don't remember the name and not worth looking up) and then it was off to Todai-ji.

Todai-ji is one of Japan's most famous and historically significant temples. It was large, beautiful, and the big Buddha was a sight to behold. Deer aren't allowed to wander around the temple. While Todai-ji was the main attraction of Nara Park (other than the deer), the park consists of many smaller temples. All were absolutely breathtaking. The park is set up in such a way that it felt like we had traveled back in time. If anyone else is thinking of walking through the park anytime soon, take as much time as possible to really take it all in.

Other than the temple, deer were always around. We were constantly stopping to take pictures and pet as many deer as possible. When would we have the chance to hang out with deer like that again? 

After a long day of walking, we parted ways with our many four legged friends and went back to kyoto. 

Peace!