First, we hopped off the train and were blown to Heijōkyū Palace Site. The biting wind made the mid-50s day cold, even with the sun in and out.
The grounds had more buildings on them than I thought they would, which was a welcome reprieve from the weather. The first was a museum explaining the site - the emperor lived here for about 75 years around 700AD before it was "packed up" (roof tiles, timbers, iron, all repurposed) and moved elsewhere. So, as Dad synthesized, everything that was left here was broken. It was the center of bureaucracy, and around 2000 people worked at essentially office jobs, so there was half a desk here and some discarded tablets there. I learned a new word - "dendrochronology" - using the fact that trees develop rings at roughly the same width to age things made of wood.
Next along the giant park was the rebuilt Imperial Hall. They did a beautiful job of "reconstructing" it. (No plans or descriptions of the building remains, so they based it off other contemporary buildings and the footprint of columns they found.) Because the excavations were twenty feet underground, the archaeologists would dig them up to study the artifacts, then rebury them and make the reconstructions on top.
Valerie and I took a brisk walk down to the East Garden. It was a smaller walled garden with a pond and a structure built over it. The construction workers really added to the beauty of the single cherry tree that was blooming. Otherwise, it was kinda just gray and gravelly.
We met back up with the rest of the family in the archaeology center, where they had dug those twenty feet down to show gutters and columns that were from 1300 years ago.
We had had Deanne inquire about a bus to Nara Park, so found the stop (a nice bus shelter that allowed the sun in and the wind out) and waited.
It was the oldest bus we've been on - both in population and in upkeep. I ended up sandwiched between two Japanese seniors in the back, but the heat off the engine was making me dizzy, so I stood up front for the final ten minutes.
After how empty and barren the first park had been, Nara Park was full of tourists. We stopped at a subpar restaurant for random pilaf, spaghetti, and red bean pancakes before braving the breeze to go find us some deer.
We didn't have to wait long. Just up the block from the Kintetsu train station was the a herd of deer, with a baby inside what was clearly meant to be a fence to keep them out. They were conveniently right by the first peddler with deer crackers to feed them.
We swung by the five-story pagoda, then walked downhill to a pond with a pavilion. We spent more time watching the construction crew there moving around dirt in the lowered pond than we did admiring the trees. Granted, we are still a few days away from peak bloom here (though it is definitely going on in DC), so the bare trees are less exciting.
Crossing the road, we turned to find a commotion of deer galloping towards us. What we thought was a herder - who actually turned out to be a deer cracker seller - ushered them across the road. Makes sense; if you're living relies on there being lots of hungry deer around, you are going to make sure they get across the road ok. As sacred as they are, I'm sure there have still been some accidents.
We began our march up to the Kasuga Taisha temple. The tree- and lantern-lined roads made it more fun to spot the deer that were every few feet. Valerie splurged on the ¥150 ($1.40) deer crackers, and I tested out the tip that I had read. Yes, the deer really will bow for their crackers!
Once Mom realized that it was a training tool, she was much more excited about feeding them. Valerie's coat was getting nibbled, so she was trying to get them to bow, but really just getting gummed in the process. The bigger guy I was feeding did a great job of being polite; his antlers, like more of theirs, were either shaved down or hadn't grown back for the season.
We made it to the shrine, with its tori gate and "vermillion" (orange) structures rising out of the lantern and tree forest, and sat on the steps to watch the world go by. The attendants were wearing traditional garb, which included these beaded bangs. Dad commented with sparkles like that in front of your face, you'll always be smiling for your customers.
We had found a bus that was down that hill that would take us back to the train station. Valerie had sniffed out the sweet potato vendor; the deer then sniffed out her sweet potato. The deer were smart enough to cross the road all together, but this impatient buck finally left us alone when the bus barreled toward it.
The bus-train combo was easy, and it was the night for shabu-shabu, a fondue-like eating style we hadn't tried yet. It was yet another "pay $30 and eat all you want", but the buffet had all the vegetarian trimmings for our boiling broth, so it felt much less rushed than when we had done the grill for Deanne's graduation dinner. Leeks, mushrooms, onions, green onions, some garlic and a purple sweet salt flavored the broth - which, I was surprised to hear from Deanne, you don't drink. When my coworkers and I had gone out for soba, they had given us the water the noodles were boiled in to dilute the sauces after we were done so they could get sipped up. With that sort of "no waste" mentality, just leaving the broth felt odd.
We had pretty much boiled it down to nothing by the time we had "swish-swished" our beef and pork in it. The meat was sliced so thinly, and the broth so hot, that it really didn't take much for raw meat to turn tender and then, if you didn't remove it, chewy.
I was also excited because, in addition to all the vegetables, there was an ice cream case. All you care to eat dessert too! I tried a few flavors, definitely the machi and red bean ones. Valerie was happy with the fries that were a part of the buffet as well.
Once again sated, we took a cab home, but not before visiting the grocery in the basement of the multi-floor mall. I checked out the price of Japanese rice, but figured I'd be fine with the quality and convenience I could find on Amazon. Back at the ryokan, Valerie, Dad, Mom, and Deanne managed to get a game of Carcassonne in before the food coma hit.
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