The Order of the Sushi split ways Sunday morning. Although Laura, Denis, Matt and I would all be together that night, they wanted to make another stop along the way. Matt and I left first, on a normal train from Kyoto to Nara. Max & Guido were off to Osaka, and would meet us in a few days back in Tokyo.

Nara is famous for its parks full of relatively tame deer. After dropping off our luggage in the station storage and lunching on delicious okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), we made our way first to a lovely little formal gardens, passing through the park with most of the other tourist attractions, including many deer. 

Although the route had been quite busy with tourists, we were happy to find that the garden was a tiny oasis of peace. We had such a nice time wandering it and goofing off. 

We finished up the garden, and hurried back to the station for our luggage, and to check into the villa that Denis had booked for the night. It was beautiful!

Denis and Laura arrived shortly after us, and we took off on bicycles to explore further (next post, because so many pictures)!