Japan Continued!

I am determined to get all of our Japan travels down in our Blog before we post pictures from our Paris and Portugal trip (Which we just got home from yesterday afternoon, thus, the 6:00 AM posting).

We left off when we were in Kyoto, exploring the various temples and shrines there including impressive Golden Pavillion. The next day we went to Nara by train to visit The Largest Wooden Building in The Entire World! This building is called, Todai-ji Temple or the Great Buddha Hall, and it houses a HUGE Buddha but the main reason for us going to this place was not for the Buddha. We wanted to see this huge wood building! The coolest thing about it though is that it was originally much wider but when it was rebuilt twice since the original was erected between 710 and 794 AD after it burned down. The one we saw is 33% smaller and was built between 1615 and 1860. No small feat even then!

Nara is known for its gardens and small, little "messengers of the gods" (aka: miniature deer). These deer roam free through all of Nara Park and are very friendly. Almost too friendly because they will come right up to you and steal your snack out of your pocket if you are too close! (These guys that I am hanging out with were too tired to be interested in me)

The gardens surrounding the Todai-ji Temple were very impressive as well. From one, Nanzen-in, were were able to catch a glimpse of Todai-ji. (Or what we thought was the Great Buddha Hall but what was actually one of the massive gates leading up to it)

Sometime before we left Kyoto for good, we also visited Sanjusangendo, the LONGEST wooden building in the world! (I guess we were interested in the wooden buildings for a while:). This building is also famous for what it houses as well (1,001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy) but again, we were more interested in its length.

On June 24th, we headed back to Tokyo and had dinner with one of Matt's friends, Ryan, who was working in Tokyo. We went to dinner with him, since his wife was with her parents who had come to visit, and we ate at the Ginza District, which is the high end shopping area in Tokyo.

The next day, we went to Nagano by train to see Matsumoto Palace, which really wasn't as spectacular as Himeji Castle but we still had to go see it. This was also the area in which Matt spent some of his time while on his mission in Japan and one of his favorite areas.