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Nara: Deer, terrapins, temples and railway adventures - Part 2

When I left off I had just visited the Todaiji Temple in Nara.

From there we visited the Kasugataisha Shrine. This is a shrine devoted to nature and even has a statue of a deer. We fed live deer here. The city of Nara sells special cookies that are good for the deer. Once the deer sense that you have a cookie — they are all over you.  They will bow to get a cookie. Basically you hold the cookie up and the deer will bow its head. I bowed back and we bowed to each other for a while. Then I handed over the cookie. Couldn’t torture them for too long. 



They have a lot of lanterns outside the shrine.

They only light the lanterns twice a year. That must be something to see.



At some shrines, there’s a tradition of buying your fortune. If it’s good, you keep it. If not, you leave it. Mine was not a really good fortune, so I left it tied to a string. 

Mine is in the middle (top) with the long tab hanging down.

The tour concluded and we took the bus into town and had pizza for lunch. Don’t laugh, they have pretty good pizza in Japan. 

Then, it was back to Kyoto via train. I got a ticket on the Kintetsu Limited Express to Kyoto. It would only make three scheduled stops.

Our return limited at Nara. It was supposed to be a direct ride to Kyoto, only three stops. 




It was the unscheduled stop that made things interesting. We were almost back to Kyoto when the train stopped on a bridge. It was really on the approach to a station - Okubo. The delay was due to a train in front of us had hit a car at a grade crossing. Our train eased into the station and it was announced that our train was being discontinued. 

This was the moment when I saw the value of making conversation using Google Translate. I asked the train crew questions using the app. Another American passenger (and her traveling companion) joined Jenny and me and we decided to leave the train and station. We had to exit the train through the operator’s cab. It was not particularly politic to stop and take photos of the cab and controls. 




As luck would have it, the JR West Shinden commuter station was a five minute walk away. We were inconvenienced, not stranded. 

Our ICOCA cards got us into the station and then it was on to the local — 10 stops from Kyoto. 

Sayonara.

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Comments

  1. Ken KorenSeptember 6, 2023 at 8:25 AM

    Was the pizza deep dish?? Looks like fun with the deer. I’ll bet a car getting hit by a train is a rarity there unlike around here. Have fun.

    ReplyDelete

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