Nara

Day two consisted of touring around Nara and Nara Park with Hiroko's mom. Since she had the day off of work, she asked about 3 or 4 times if she could tag along. Of course, we said yes. We had a great time and got to see a lot of temples, the world's largest wooden structure, some deer, and a turtle pond. Once again, I have good luck for life as I climbed through a little hole inside of a pillar located in Todaiji Temple. We also had a delicious lunch with Hiroko's mom and got to see some of Nara's traditional streets and houses.

Here are my favorite photos of Nara:

(Todaiji Temple - the largest wooden structure in the world, at least according to the brochure. If you look in the distance, you can see tiny dots. Those are people entering the temple.)

(Outside entrance/wall to get into the main temple area.)

(Guardian, I believe, to protect the Buddha.)

(Another Guardian inside the temple)

(Me barely squeezing through the "Good Luck For the Rest of Your Life" Hole.)

(First spotting of deer in a park area as we were walking to Todaiji Temple)

(As you can see, the deer are everywhere)

(Katrina and her deer friend)

(Another cleansing area)

(View of Nara and the top of Todaiji Temple over Katrina's right shoulder from a different temple which I do not know the name of...)

(Five Storied Pagoda)

(Katrina and I in front of the Five Storied Pagoda)

(Turtles relaxing in the turtle pond)

(Action photo of the ladies)

(Nara's famous monkeys - the red and white things hanging from the entrance)

(Up close shot - I'm not sure why they call it a monkey...)