But even before going to the Expo 70 Commemorative Park, we took the train to Nara. I am unashamed to say that this was completely Instagram’s influence; one does not simply pass up the opportunity to feed a deer that bows in gratitude. Luckily, Nara was more than just that! We would have explored this cute town even more, but it was only our second morning, and we had an appointment with the Tower of the Sun later that afternoon. And boy did we sacrifice enough sweat and tears (not crying, just sweating from our eye sockets) to the solar gods along the way.
And here are the stars of the show, just as goofy as you’d expect, but a little bit more persistent than necessary. One of them even tried to “gore” me with his big goofy antlers when I had the audacity of running out of crackers, while another nipped at Christine (we have it on video too, buster). It’s all fun and games, just not as Studio Ghibli as Instagram lets on. Loved them to bits though.
There was some surprisingly modernist architecture here too in this spiritual center of Japan.