Day 76 - 14th of November

10:05pm　普通電車

天気：曇り

We're almost at Nara now. Carly, Diego and I are meeting Jessica there. We woke up at 7:00 this morning and quickly got ready to leave for Makino station at 8:30. We took the local train from Makino to Kuzaha, then changed to an express train. We got off at Tambabashi, to change to the Kintetsu line. We waited on the platform for a bit, and I bought a playstaion mag. We're here...

1:53pm　レストラン

Right now, I'm sitting in exactly the same restaurant in sat in 4 years ago on my high school school trip. It's on the street towards 東大寺 (Todaiji temple - which houses the 大仏 - Daibutsu - "Great Buddha"). Carly's eating with me; Diego and Jessica went elsewhere. So far we've been to a number to a number of shrines and temples in the park. My food's just arrived...

2:10pm　レストラン

Finished. The trees are of a million different shades and the deer are abundant. We walked through a beautiful forest with ancient camphor trees, before deciding that we were very hungry and had to eat. We past a market on the way to this restaurant and I bought a beautiful old scroll. Carly just got a message from Diego saying that they would have to wait 25 mins for their pizza to be made; there's an Italian restaurant in the park across from us. Oh well, I want to explore and take more photos before we enter Todaiji. I should take some video too...

5:44pm　奈良駅

Carly and I are watching for the train home in Nara now. We bought a ticket that would get us all the way back in one transaction (basically paying for both kintetsu and keihan lines at once); very convenient. Diego and Jessica went into Nara to eat; I hope they find somewhere nice. So yeah, after lunch we walked around the souvenir shops and the park for a while, then me up with Diego and Jessica. It was about 3, so we made our way straight to Todaiji. Since my camera batteries ran out, I filmed it; already taken photos there before anyway. Even still, seeing the Great Buddha again was awe inspiring. You can't appreciate the true size of it in photos or film. And the structure itself is absolutely magnificent. We left just before it closed at 4:30, then walked out the side way, back towards the station. On the way, we visited a private garden. It was free entry for foreigners, so of course we leaped at the opportunity. It was so beautiful. We didn't spend too long in there since it was closing we continued walking toward the station, and stopped by one last souvenir shop.

I was supposed making 牛丼 (gyudon - a beef and rice dish) with Amber tonight, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen; by the time we get back Sanko will be closed. She'll have already have eaten anyway. Still got about 20 minutes to wait...

7:01pm　急行電車

We're now on the sub-express to Makino from Tambabashi. We decided that we'd rather sit down and have a longer ride, than stand up all the way and get there sooner. This way we don't have to switch over at Kuzuha either. It's been a long day, and now all I want to do is sleep...