Nara is a very old town with many temples in the area. It's quite small, and much of it is a park where a large herd of deer wanders around freely. We arrived after dark, and found our ryokan without too much difficulty. We stayed three nights, giving us a day plus an additional morning to sightsee in Nara, and another day to see some nearby temples.

Why would anyone buy a drink named "Sweat"?

Our ryokan was nicer than the one in Tokyo, but not as fancy as the one in Hakone. This is breakfast.

We didn't have to go far to see deer.

They are aggressive panhandlers.

This temple was close to the center of town.

Drawing the pagoda.

Splashing water on the statues.

This illustrates some type of food. Maybe an omelet.

<	This is a little stand selling some kind of pastries, emerging from the machine behind where the dough is being pounded.

These are real fruits on a real plant at a plant store.

In the park, the deer are in no danger of starving.

Mmm — chocolate.

Before going to the temple, we walked around a beautiful garden.

One of the guards in front of the temple. Many temples had a pair of guard statues, one whose mouth was open, one whose was closed.

Todaiji Temple. It is the world's largest wooden building, and it houses Japan's largest Buddha.

The Buddha.

Another statue inside the temple.

One of the posts was very popular for kids (and some adults) to crawl through.

Nigatsu-do Temple, in Nara Park.

Detail of the steps up to the temple.

A pretty rock fountain for handwashing.

Deer grazing at sunset.

Breakfast the next morning.

It rained quite a bit, and we unwisely decided to wear our raincoats instead of bringing our umbrellas like normal Japanese people.

The entrance to Horyuji Temple.

The five-storied pagoda.

Roof detail.

The mouth-open guard.

The mouth-closed guard.

Yakushiji Temple.

Its reconstructed three-story pagoda. (The one on the other side is original construction.)

There was a bonsai exhibit nearby.

Archery students in the train station.

A sake pitcher, with an intendation to hold ice and flowers.

Black sesame ice cream, served on a platter which would go nicely with the square motifs of our kitchen.

Someone had put used coffee cans as props in this public sculpture.

A little temple.

Mushrooms in the park.

This spike was very similar to one we had seen on Mount Sinai. Only 199,998 to go.

A display at the airport of illegal goods with fake logos or made using endangered animals.

On to Signs & Desktops