A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 48 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
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Cheryl, yet again more beautiful pictures. Interesting about the deer walking freely and close by you and Mark (even others too). I'm sorry to hear about your sprained ankle. I'm glad it wasn't too bad to keep you from more sight seeing.
the deer pictures. I hope to get to Nara one day too. This might sound weird, but I really miss seeing lots of critters around roaming freely. There is nothing here except for birds - and some pretty big scary ones at that. I miss seeing deer, raccoons, opossum, rabbits, and squirrels - even a frog would be nice. Guess I'll have to take a trip to Naha to see some wildlife out in their element.
Looking forward to your next installment .
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The deer in the park looked wonderful (and I agree a little scruffy - but that's what happens when you shed your winter coat). Buddha hall looked impressive and with all the cherry blossoms blooming, just beautiful!!
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I can't ever imagine deer roaming freely like that here in the US. And I will never say anything bad about deer! I'm not messing with the messenger of the Gods! More beautiful photos too!
I just got caught up and this is AMAZINGLY Beautiful sights you got to see. And I dunno there was something quite funny about Mark's Rice Balls. I wouldn't have eaten the Cherry Flavour Either.
I can't wait to read more of your Trip in Japan! I'm soooo Jealous.
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I think I might be a little fearful of the deer too. Cherry rice balls..... don't think my stomach would approve of that one - LOL. Such amazing pictures!!
Sunday 5 April – part three: you won’t believe what they sell here…
We headed into the Buddha Hall itself. Although the body of the Buddha still dates from 752, when the place was constructed, the head has fallen victim to national disasters before, including fires and earthquakes and the current head dates from 1692. It’s an amazing sight when you first walk in and you can’t take in the full size of it. My guidebook told me that me that when they need to clean it, there can be up to four or five men in the palm of the Buddha’s hand.
As we walked around, you see two Enlightened Beings on either side of the Buddha and also two very surly heavenly guardians, who protect the Buddha.
There’s also a small hole that there was a massive line for, all parents with small kids. The legend says that if you crawl through it, then you will reach Nirvana. Well, there will be a lot of kids going there from what we saw today!
By the time we came out, we felt we had really got our money’s worth. That’s very much been a trend here in Kyoto. What we’ve paid to get into things has been so worth it. This was 500¥ (about £3.50) and at home I know they’d charge at least three or four times that amount and probably still get high numbers of visitors. I wouldn’t want Japan to change on that front, as it’s very reasonable, but it’s good to see.
Having finished our exploration of the temple, we made our way down the street, stopping to look at some more shops. We were a bit stunned by some of the goods they had on sale..
I just contented myself with a chocolate ice cream and boy was that good. We sat down while I ate it just to watch the world go by and we both agreed that we were very glad that we’d taken the time to come out here. It had been relatively easy to get here and very cheap and I couldn’t imagine coming here on a guided tour. : As we sat there, we saw a coach go by and that just confirmed my view, as they were all leaning out of the windows to take photos, so Mark kindly waved at them.
We walked back to the station, getting some final shots along the way of both deer and cherry blossom trees. I had earlier commented that it would be nice if the deer would oblige and sit under the cherry trees and they must’ve heard me, because now they were doing just that. I guess my insult against them earlier didn’t drive them away then…
Soon we were back at the station.
Outside the station
We found our way to our platform with no problems. We had 20 minutes to wait for our train, but some of that time was spent sitting on the train, as Nara is a terminal station. The journey back was fine and we were back at the hotel just about an hour after we left.
Our train arrives
We had some downtime in the room, during which time we ordered room service for breakfast tomorrow. We were going to do this for today, but we didn’t read the menu properly and it has to be done by 11.00 the night before. Mark called up (as I didn’t trust my Japanese to get us the right things!) He had to go through the order about three times and then the girl came up to double check it with us, so at least it should be right in the morning. Well, I hope so anyway!
Another teriffic update Cheryl. I love the pictures , and wow about your comment on how many people it takes to clean the Buddah Statue. I'm glad your luck was with you with getting the deer to lay under the cherry trees for you!
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OK... maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing a slight resemblance around the eyes... I'm just sayin'........
I'm in the wrong business! I know where I can get tons of that "Deer Excrement" stuff!
It's hard to imagine that Buddha being around that long, especially when they had to make such a major repair as replacing the head! This was a very interesting place, Cheryl. I agree that when you can do things on your own, it is usually better than coping with the restrictions of a group. Of course, that doesn't always apply, though.
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the deer pictures. I hope to get to Nara one day too. This might sound weird, but I really miss seeing lots of critters around roaming freely. There is nothing here except for birds - and some pretty big scary ones at that. I miss seeing deer, raccoons, opossum, rabbits, and squirrels - even a frog would be nice. Guess I'll have to take a trip to Naha to see some wildlife out in their element.
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We sat down while I ate it just to watch the world go by and we both agreed that we were very glad that we’d taken the time to come out here. It had been relatively easy to get here and very cheap and I couldn’t imagine coming here on a guided tour. 
: As we sat there, we saw a coach go by and that just confirmed my view, as they were all leaning out of the windows to take photos, so Mark kindly waved at them. 
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