Nara and Uji

We had an early start this morning and got a train to Nara.  Nara is home to a wonderful park with some great gardens and shrines.

We visited the huge Todai-ji shrine, the garden at Isui-en and the Meiraku art museum.

We then visited the Todai-ji shrine's bell tower and then Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do temples.  We then walked to Kasuga-taisha and back to the station at Nara through the old town area called Naramachi.

We got a train to Uji (and ate lunch on it) and met Simon again. We enjoyed a formal tea ceremony with Simon translating and then visited Byodo-in Buddhist temple with its Phoenix hall built in 1053.

In the evening we joined a night tour of Kyoto that was meant to show us some of the sights of Kyoto at their best but it felt more like a tour of Kyoto traffic jams.  Not a good choice!