The Golden Week Special - Last Day - Todaiji - the Great Buddha at Nara

So I arrived back Friday from Tokyo and Brian was already in Kobe staying w/ P.Mark and his family. I missed going to Universal Studios Japan with them but I was able to squeeze in a one-day Nara trip on Saturday before he left back for Shizuoka on Sunday after church.

a 5-story pagoda on the way to Todaiji Temple that houses the Great Buddha

market stalls on the way

Stone marking Todaiji

Outside the temple gate w/ Brian

Temple housing the Buddha

the Great Buddha

So after running into Kimie on the train as we were going kayaking, I found out that she was actually going to be in Osaka (about half an hour) from Nara, so I gave her a call and we met up at the buddha and walked back to the station together reminiscing about old times.

And then we found this mochi shop actually pounding mochi on the side of the street at their shop so we had to stop by and have some and boy...it was the best maccha (green tea) mochi I ever had, with a bit of anko (the azuki beans) inside to boot.