Nara Deer Park

Last Sunday, Feb. 3rd, we went to Nara.  We visited Nara Park, a 1,300 acre area, that is home to over 1,000 tame deer.  The deer are considered messengers of the gods and roam freely in the park.

These deer were all resting peacefully until we came along.

We had grabbed McDonald's for lunch on the way and Chloe was still finishing up her nuggets.  I think the deer may have smelled them on her hands, because when we approached, they all got up to check us out. 

This one was very friendly with me!

One is checking out Grandma!

 The kids got a kick out of the deer everywhere.  They were friendly and let the kids pet them.

I think this one was getting to close for Jeff's comfort!

Or maybe not, Jeff has a big smile on his face now and Katherine is laughing!

Here we are in front of Todai-ji Temple, completed in 752, home of the "Great Buddha Vairocana" of Nara.

Here is the "Great Buddha of Vairocana", it is 53 feet tall and is the world's largest bronze image of Buddha.  It is cast with molten bronze, mercury and vegetable wax.  It has withstood many earthquakes and fires, although the head has been dislodged several times because of them.  The current head has been in place since 1692.

Sitting to the Buddha's right is this statue ~ Kokuzo Bosatsu ~ an Enlightened Being and was completed in 1709.

Inside the temple there is a small hole in a large wooden pillar.  It is believed that if you can squeeze through the hole you will attain Nirvana.  I was not going to attempt to squeeze through, I don't think I would have fit.

Katherine and Chloe made it though!  Killian was off with Grandma and didn't try.

I am not sure what this is, but I thought it was nice so I took a picture.

There is plenty of wide open spaces to run around and play, for both people and deer!

It was a beautiful day, sunny and upper 40's.  We let the kids run around and play for a while.

On the main street there are little stores and shops.  You can buy biscuits to feed the deer.  We bought some, but I was unable to take any pictures because the deer didn't give me a chance!  Instead I decided to take pictures of this guy feeding the deer.

The deer keep an eye out for people that buy food for them.  Once you step away from the food stand, they will come up and surround you.  If you notice, the bottom right of this guy's shirt is wet.  The deer will bite you to get your attention to feed them.  I have a very nice bruise on my left thigh from one deer.  He got the majority of the biscuits I bought because he kept biting me!  It didn't hurt, but he definitely got my attention!  They will follow you around until the food is gone.

One of the shops sold ice cream, so we stopped for some.  Apparently the deer are interested in ice cream as well.

I had to hold onto Chloe's ice cream because our little friend tried to eat hers!

Jeff had a talking to with this deer who was standing behind him.  Jeff was concerned the deer was going to jump on him.  Why he thought this, no one knows.  The deer looks innocent to me.

Of course I don't see this sign until we are on our way back at the end of the day!

We decided to stop at one of several ponds on our way back to the car.  This is the pathway on the way to the water.

A view of the water from the bridge.

Katherine and Killian spotted several things in the water.

Fish!

A turtle too!

We made it back to the car and left the parking lot to head home.  The parking lot attendant waved us to the right, even though we wanted to go left.  We saw a side street and thought it would take us out to the main road, so we turned down it.

Little did we know, it was a dead end!  Of course we didn't discover this until we were at the very bottom!  As you can see in this picture, the street was very narrow.  Jeff had to turn in the side mirrors and reverse it back up to the top.  He did a great job. 

Once we were back at the top, we saw a group of people in the street watching us and laughing.  I snapped a picture of them as we continued our attempt to get out of there.  They guy on the left looked deep in thought looking at us, I don't think he thought we would make it.

It was a great fun day and tired out the youngest ones.  Here we are on the car ride home.  Until next time!