Nara & Osaka Aquarium

Hello all,

Today we did a half day trip to Nara, the first capital of Japan around about the 8th century. Nara is mostly famous today because of the deer that roam freely in Nara Park. You can buy food to feed them with. We didn't, but we did see them bowing to people in order to get food.

We mostly walked around aimlessly Nara, as the park was nice and being underneath the trees was shady and a bit cooler. We walked through some gardens and the visited Todai-ji Temple and its Great Buddha Hall which had a giant buddha inside. We also looked at the small but interesting museum which had sculptures dating back to the 8th century. Then we walked around for a while before visiting the outside of Kasuga Taisha, and then going inside the Golden Buddha Hall of Kofuku-ji. I then enjoyed a cheese and tomato panini and Mum had a watermelon smoothie.

All up we spent about four hours in Nara, and then caught the train back into the centre of Osaka. We visited the same market as Tuesday and Mum bought some fruit, and then we tried some takoyaki that is a localty specialty mentioned on the walking tour on Tuesday. It was OK but not my favourite.

Finally, Mum and I visited the Osaka Aquarium which had been recommended to me by some friends at work. We spent a great two hours there and particularly enjoyed the huge whale sharks, the Japanese spider crabs and the Pacific white sided dolphins. All of these were interesting in particular as we had never seen any of them at Melbourne Aquarium or anywhere else before. The layout of Osaka Aquarium was clever as you first ascended to level 8 via escalator and then descended over time through different regions of the world, seeing the highest and lowest points of each tank. Even better was that it only cost $23 each, probably half of what Melbourne Aquarium costs despite Osaka Aquarium being much bigger. Before we headed back we had a quick look at the view out over Osaka Bay, and could see some of the Universal Studios rides in the distance.

Tomorrow we head to Koyasan. Three days in Osaka has gone fast!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox