Japan trip day 20: Kyoto (August 4th, 2009)

Took Dan and Shirley to Nara early in the morning (around 8am) to avoid the heat. Rena stayed in the hotel with Dorit. Took a bus from Nara train station to the park instead of walking in the sun. Visited the Todaiji temple and saw the great sitting Buddha, which is Japan's largest bronze Buddha. The great Buddha is housed in the largest wooden structure in the world. Shirley passed easily through the hole in one of the columns, which means that she will be enlightened. Bought deer cookies and fed the deer on the way. The deer are quite persistent, and they bite your pants back pocket to get more cookies. Returned to Kyoto around noon.

Dan and I took the Shinkansen to Tokyo in the afternoon. We went to Kappabashi-dougugai Dori street, which is Japan's largest wholesale area for cookware and restaurant supplies. We bought realistic plastic models of a bunch of grapes, a persimmon, and a cup of iced tee. We also bought long chopsticks for cooking. We took the Shinkansen back to Kyoto. On the way to the room we bought desserts at the hotel's pastry shop. They were not as good as they looked.