Oh deer!

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Woke up relatively early to pack our bags and Leave the AirBnB, and hop the train for Nara. It was about an hour ride, on a commuter train, very much like the Metra.

Nara is a quaint little town, very much like the Wisconsin Dells, or the cape, or pokonos, or whatever inexpensive vacation spot 1 hr away you have.

But Nara has one significant difference: friendly deer.

As in, you walk to Nara Park, and the temples on the hill, and there are deer every where, these deer, (I don't say this often) were mega chill. You could pet them, take selfies with them, and of course feed them. They sell these deer crackers in the park, that I'm sure some Zaibatsu monopolized, that the deer love.

Also the deer bow. You bow to them, they bow to you, and then you give them a cracker. Pavlovian conditioning at its finest.

Some years ago (like a millennia) the local people began bowing to the deer, believing turn to be messengers from the gods. The deer then realized they get food when they bow, and here we are today.

We wandered around Nara more, finding Naramachihouse quite by accident. This is a house that has been renovated to its original early Edo period state. The houses were very deep, with a small street frontage, because they were taxed based on the linear footage of street they took. These houses were not only where the family lived but also where the Artisan worked producing the stoneware/calligraphy/whatever they earned their living with.

We settled into our Ryokan after meandering around, found a good okonomiyaky place, ate dinner, and headed home for an early night.

I apologize for the degradation in blog posts in the past. Not having s full blown computer and keyboard and travel guide makes it difficult. I will probably go back and update these posts with more pics and links later, so check back in like 6 months.