During the same time I visited Mie and Toba, I also took a day trip with my dad and uncle to Nara and Kyoto. Again we made use of our Kintetsu 5-day pass. Even though we saved quite a bit on the fare, it was a gruelling train ride there and back. I was ready to shoot myself on the way back because it took so. bloody. long. Lol

Early in the morning we made our way to the station and took the train to Nara. Once we got there, we walked through Nara Park and took some obligatory photos with the deers. I purposely stayed clear of anyone holding senbei in their hands as I didn’t want to get swarmed by them. Haha

First we visited Todaiji, which is where the Giant Buddha is kept. Everything looked the same from when I last visited five years ago. I still managed to fit through the hole without any problems! For lunch we stopped by a restaurant and ate Nara’s specialty kakinohazushi, which is sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. I always love unwrapping and finding out what kind of fish is inside.

Later in the afternoon we continued walking until we reached Kasuga Taisha. My dad and uncle weren’t interested in visiting the shrine so I paid the admission price and went in by myself. The shrine is actually a lot of fun to visit. The interior is famous for its many bronze lanterns and there’s one room you enter where it’s pitch black except for a few dozen lit lanterns. There’s also a couple areas inside where they have wisteria flowers growing. It was so pretty seeing it up close.

In the afternoon we walked past Kofukuji and the Sarusawa Pond before making our way back to the station. Then we took the train and headed to Kyoto. Since a lot of tourist spots in Kyoto close very early, we ended up staying close to the station. We first got dessert at a restaurant called Nakamura Tokichi. Apparently it’s very famous and most of its desserts are sold out before the end of the day. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes before we got seated inside. It was totally worth it because it was so yummy!

After dessert we went window shopping in the electronics store close to Kyoto Station. Right before we left, we ate a bowl of ramen inside Kyoto Station’s ramen street, which is on the 10th floor. I actually had more fun taking photos on the Great Staircase, which goes from the ground floor all the way up. They also have LED lights on the staircase so it was really cool seeing the different messages that would pop up. That marked the end of a really long day trip out to Nara and Kyoto!