Nara

Today our motor coach motored us a little more than an hour to the south to the city of Nara, which long ago preceded Kyoto as Japan's capital city.

The Todai-ji Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is said to be the largest wooden building in the world. It's built completely without nails, only joined wood.

It houses the Daibutsu -- the largest statue of Buddha in Japan -- a bronze that is 52 feet tall. The bronze was once covered in gold leaf, but a fire destroyed that.

In addition, there are several other huge statues, most made of wood, that stand as guardians to the temple.

There's also a giant bronze lantern on the grounds that is thought to date back to the temple's founding in the mid-eighth century C.E.

And there is a pillar with a hole in the base, said to be the same size as one of the Daibutsu's nostrils. Children climb through it and are supposed to earn good luck by doing so.

One wooden statue is a representation of a long-dead monk who was said to have had healing powers so great that just touching his statue can bring relief from illness. We're still waiting for the results.

The most unique feature of the park surrounding the temple is the herd of deer that roam free here. These deer are so tame that you can pet them. And if you buy some of the flat biscuits they love to eat, you can be very popular with them.

Unfortunately, they can be pretty aggressive if you happen to be feeding one when another thinks it's his or her turn, or when you run out of biscuits when one of them wants more. One followed Mark and grabbed his shirttail in her mouth to pull him back when he walked away after giving out his last biscuit.

The deer are thought to be messengers of the Shinto god Kasuga, so they get special treatment. They have their own "house" where they can go to bed at night, and another where does go to give birth to their fawns. It's also interesting that the messengers of a Shinto god reside on the grounds of a Buddhist temple. The two religions exist side by side here, with most Japanese practicing both.

We had to walk a bit to get to our lunch restaurant in Nara, but it was worth the trip. The narrow streets and old buildings are a lot like Kyoto, and as we crossed a bridge over a small stream we even got to see a stone boat!

But on the way back to the bus, three members of the group set off walking at a faster pace and got ahead of the group. They thought they knew where they were going, but missed a turn and got lost. Mariko somehow tracked them down, eventually.

We drove back to Kyoto and visited a museum dedicated to tea culture. A "tea master" and her helper staged a much abbreviated tea ceremony for us. Then we were equipped with a bowl and some "matcha," or ground or powered green tea.

We were guided in the mixing of the matcha. The only bad part was that we actually had to drink it. Whether prepared by the "tea master" or by us, it's pretty vile stuff. Definitely an acquired taste. We learned that it takes about 10 years of study to become a tea master, which made us appreciate grocery store tea bags all the more.

After tea, we were released for free time the rest of the afternoon. Some returned to the hotel, others went to an art museum. We elected to go to the Gion district of Kyoto, along the Shirakawa River.

Gion originated as an entertainment district to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to a local shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan.

The district still caters to the needs and desires of travelers, but today more with bars and restaurants than with geisha tea houses. (The only geishas we saw were on the street, trying to entice tourists to buy tickets to a show.) From the district it was an easy walk back to our hotel.

Dinner in the evening also involved a bit of a walk, but it was one of the best meals we've had on the trip, including multiple courses of sashimi, tempura, sushi, and even ice cream for dessert!