And here's already my second day in Nara.

Nara - Day 2 (January 5th, 2010):



I started quite early in the morning as there were many things I wanted to see and not enough time for everything (furthermore, remember when I told you I was unlucky? It happened AGAIN!!!!!).
Anyway, first things first. At first I went to Hokkeji Temple. Nobody there at that time apart from a few students in school uniform passing by on their way to school and salarymen on their way to work.





The weather was okay, but very windy that day. You can't see this at all on this picture which seems very calm ;P



Of course you can say now: Hey, there are SO MANY awesome things to see in Nara so why on earth do you go to this not so popular Hokkeji Temple?? Well, it was on my way to another World Heritage and I THOUGHT I would have enough time anyway .... so why not, right?



Furthermore, this statue was very interesting!



And a stroll through a temple where almost nobody else is, is always kind of nice (^-^')>



Finally I reached my actual destination of that day: Heijō Palace (平城宮, Heijō-kyū)
It's really awesome, but it took forever to WALK from one thing to the other, so my time management went byebye ;o; ...... anyway, you'll soon understand why I was unlucky this time ..



Yepp, 1st Daigokuden which was UNDER CONSTRUCTION (-___-'') couldn't be accessed at ALL, so I took this photo with SUPERZOOM! *sigh* .....



The weather became worse and worse and after walking for I don't know how long against the strong wind I finally reached the famous Suzaku Gate!
It can also be seen from the train when you take the Nara Kintetsu Line and you might have seen it in dramas like "Shikaotoko" etc.







As it was so windy it was REALLY difficult to get a "straight" photo of the Suzaku Gate and the Daigokuden in the background x___X ... and the sand in my eyes didn't really help *SNORTS*
When I tried to find somebody to ask about the next train or bus stop I didn't find ANYBODY there!!! I was all alone. I waited for a while and finally found s.b., but that person couldn't help me either. In the end I had to go back THE WHOLE WAY to the train station where I came from which took FOREVER!!!! It was ALMOST past noon when I finally arrived at my next destination *sigh* ...........



Yakushi-ji (薬師寺) is one of the most famous imperial and ancient Buddhist temples in Japan, located in Nara. The temple is the headquarters of the Hossō school of Japanese Buddhism. The main object of veneration, Yakushi Nyorai, also named "The Medicine Buddha", was one of first Buddhist Deities to arrive in Japan from China in 680, and gives the temple its name.



What you can see in the photo above is the main hall.





The weather became worse and worse and it started raining -____-
It was so dark that it took me a while to set my camera up so that the photos would still be okay later on *sigh*
Yeah, that day sucked BIG TIME!!! (x__X) ....



Uhm yeah ... not a good photo, but I took this in order to give you an idea how LOVELY the weather was back then... x_X



Me and many other tourists decided to take a break in the tea house there. It was also suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper cold outside, so we used the maccha to warm up again (*__*)



Saitou (the Western Pagoda), there was also an Eastern Pagoda, but .. guess what?? Yesh! UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! GROAR!!!! *calms down*



Colorful guardian #1



Colorful guardian #2





The pagoda again. I thought that tree was really interesting XD



And yet again. That's a very beautiful pagoda :)



Photos inside were not allowed. *whistles* .... Ahem.
No, usually I follow the rules, I just didn't know it was not allowed until later (^-^*) ....





And that's the Genjotou. Inside were no photos allowed, so that's the only chance I had (^-^*)>



Next stop was the Toshodaiji Temple (唐招提寺) which is only a few minutes away from the temple I just came from, so you can walk! :)



The Classic Golden Hall, also known as the kondō, has a single story, hipped tiled roof with a seven bay wide facade. It is considered the archetype of "classical style."
It was founded by a Chinese priest named Ganjin during the Nara period in the year 759 A.D. Ganjin was a blind Chinese monk hired by the newly empowered clans to travel in search of funding from private aristocrats.





I had to hurry up a little bit because I still wanted to go to Nara park and visit as many sightseeing spots (but esp. Todaiji) as possible before 5pm. Also, I still haven't had any lunch at that time yet ^^; ...



Last pic and then I left.



And as always this can't miss, right? XD



And finally lunch time! I think it was around 1:30pm at that time, maybe 2pm. I can't really remember where I bought this nor what it was called, sorry XD
It was not spicy, though, as I don't like spicy food XD



Finally reached Nara park. Koufukuji again XD ... this time with bubu weather (x_X)



I think the deer didn't like the weather either XD



That's the Nan'endō (South octagonal hall) (南円堂), Site No.9 of Saigoku 33 Pilgrimage. Most other things there were ... yeah, you guessed right again: UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!! (x________________x)



Nara National Museum and a scary-looking sky (o_o'') ... I didn't go in there that day, though.



A deer in front of the museum.
Stop looking at me like that, I don't have any senbei anymore!!! *lying* XD



Himuro Shrine. Very small, but right next to the museum on the other side of the road, so always worth passing by ;)



And even more hungry deer. See? I told you they were EVERYWHERE! XD



And when I say everywhere I MEAN EVERYWHERE! XDDDDDDDDDD



And always hungry, of course, ready to attack the next innocent tourist XD



And they also love to ignore traffic rules XD



.... but they're still cute, no matter what (*_*)v



They are REALLY tame!!! No fear at all! XD



Awww, nobody gave you senbei?? That's too bad, but COULD YOU PLEASE STOP EATING THAAAT???? XD



Still on my way to Toudaiji and as you can see it took me forever to get there because hungry and cute deer were in my way the whole time XDDDD



And there it is: Tōdaiji (東大寺, Eastern Great Temple)
Maybe one of the most famous tourist attractions in Nara!



Its Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿 Daibutsuden), the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu (大仏). The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", together with seven other sites including temples, shrines and places in the city of Nara. Sika deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, roam the grounds freely.



I think Toudaiji was the ONLY one where you were allowed to take photos of the inside!!!!



Of course, in Toudaiji were the most tourists, so sometimes it took a while to take photos without any people in the way (^^') ...



The Daibutsu!







A good example of "explanation cards" here. That's what you usually get. Lots of info in Japanese and one line in English (if at all XD) ... *sigh*



Sorry about the crappy photos, it was really difficult to take good ones in there :/



Statue of the Pindola. If you touch the statue and then the same part of your body, then any sickness will be healed.
STUPID ME FORGOT TO DO SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *100 times headdesk* How can one be so stupid!!! I even wrote me notes, so I wouldn't forget ;o; ...



This is how Toudaiji looks when there's a festival, nice huh?



And then it was time to leave (*sigh* the bad weather makes the photos look bad as well ;o; ...)



I was walking around a bit in Nara park until sunset (it was almost 5pm anyway, so everything would close soon).





On my way back to the station I found this event calendar thingie. No event during the time I was there, though :/



If you go from Koufukuji to Naramachi, there's a small pond (Sarusawa) and you can take nice pictures of the 5-store pagoda there.
Actually the original picture was crap, so I modified it in PS a bit.
Naramachi is an old part of Nara with small and old shopping streets and stores. I went there to eat:



Kaki-no-hazushi (柿の葉ずし) - a local speciality!
Sushi (usually mackerel and/or salmon) wrapped in persimmon leaves.
Only that I was stupid enough to eat the leave as well, but luckily they saw me doing so and told me after my first bite that you're not supposed to eat it XD
Well ... how should I know, right? ;P ... ahem.



So, when you eat it should look like this↑ (leaves separate and do NOT eat them XD)
It was nice, but not THAT special. Didn't taste much different from normal sushi to be honest.



Back at Nara Kintetsu St. and on my way back to my hotel ^-^;



... where I found another funny "warning sign"! I love Japanese warning signs!! <33




And that was my second day in Nara. Again way too short as I couldn't do everything I had planned. The next day was already reserved for a day trip to Hikone and Nagahama, both castle cities (where I had quite some unlucky events awaiting me yet again *sigh*).
The next post will be mainly about castles. Hope you're looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading and comments.

バイ☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu