Day 5 Osaka and Nara

Today we negotiated the local subway and despite a very unhelpful railway employee( unusual) we managed to buy tickets and get to Osaka Castle without losing anyone. A first. The castle is fantastic and now operates as a museum. It was built by the shogunate of Tokogawa. The top floor afforded a 360 degree view of the castle and Osaka. It was surrounded by a moat that was as wide as the Yarra River. We saw lots of school groups of all ages. The little ones were particularly cute. It is the end of semester and it is traditional for schools to take the children on excursions to famous places in Japan. Hence the groups f children everywhere we go!

We went looking for a famous shopping mall in Osaka thinking it would be tradional wares but instead it was one long covered area, a street width but several blocks long full of all the usual shops like h&m Zara etc. we decided after lunch not to bother with further exploration but head straight to Nara and the biggest Buddha in Japan. We managed the trains with aplomb this time - practice does make us better. By the time we got to Nara it was 5:00 pm and it was nearly closing time. Fortunately there was a bus about to leave for the temple which we hopped onto and were soon there. The temple is surrounded by parkland which has wild deer roaming free.

There are signs that warn against being bumped etc. it was essential to make a Bline for the temple and ignore the deer till later. When we approached the building we were awestruck by the size and the surroundings. Then it was deer shots, drinks and back on the bus to train and then. Kyoto arriving about 7:45pm and went to dinner at a little restaurant at the station. You could live in this station! All pretty tired and once again the diary has been left. It is midnight every night by the time we turn out the lights yet never enough time for the diary.