Although it was snowing gently when we left home, there seemed to be no adverse effect on the trains, so we boarded our shinkansen on time for the journey to Kyoto. On turning inland halfway through the trip we began to see snow lying but there was nothing much at our destination. The mammoth station was bustling with holiday weekend travellers We made our way up the outdoor escalators to the top of the huge building where we hoped to eat at an eel restaurant. However we found that it had closed, so we ate in a generic Japanese eatery instead. Emily played up, as I had mentioned noodles and they didn't have any. She was being quite tetchy anyway, which I put down to an overdue poo: despite her medication we had reached day four - the worst in ages - and it was definitely affecting her behaviour. After a bit of a scene when Nick had to take her out of the restaurant as I could not deal with her, she returned and eventually ate an acceptable amount. We went back via the skywalk, where we got good views of Kyoto Tower, and down to the kintetsu platforms, as our journey for the day was not over. A 30 minute limited express ride took us to Nara, where we found somewhat more snow on the ground.
We dropped our things at the ryokan, which was an old place bursting with character down a side street off the thoroughfare. The proprietor was effusive and extremely attentive, to the point of irritation, as we just wanted to get back out and make the most of the daylight. Emily was tired so rather than walk we took a bus for the short ride to Todaiji, the temple where a famous big Buddha statue is housed. After alighting we walked through the grounds and the giant entrance gate, fending off deer. Nara is well-known for these animals, which populate the parkland around the temples, and they have become accustomed to being fed sembei (rice crackers) so will approach anyone who so much as puts their hand in their pocket. Nick was rather foolhardy and bought a packet of the food. Even as he was at the stall several deer clustered round nudging him and one even bit him on the bottom! He gingerly broke pieces off and thrust them at them as they pursued him. Emily managed to get a stroke or two from some more docile creatures, and cooed over a gorgeous little fawn.
We passed under the huge wooden gates with their imposing nio guardian figures and bought tickets to go into Todaiji, which is the largest wooden building in the world.
As in all his manifestations, Buddha appeared serene.
Emily was a bit nervous and anxious to get back to the park, its snow and deer. Outside the temple was a wooden statue of a Buddha disciple called Pindola which bestows healing if you touch its body in the place where yours is ailing, but it looked very macabre and Emily shied away from it (in fact she was still mentioning it days later so it made quite a strong impression).
Back in the park we played for some time, making a snowman, throwing snowballs and sliding down slippery banks.
Emily had a great time, but though thawing snow fell continously from trees it was generally very chilly and damp, so eventually she complained of being too cold and there was much pestering to be carried. I managed to persuade her to walk half a mile back towards town before we picked her up, then we made our way to a restaurant for an early dinner. It was closing early, at seven, at which point we went back to the accommodation. Though it had everything we needed it was not very warm and was only 6 tatami mats in size so the three futons now laid out for us took up the whole floor space. After spending 20 minutes reading to Emily in the freezing toilet cubicle she finally produced a small poo but not nearly enough after four days so I was still quite concerned. We were very tired so we lay down with Emily and were all fast asleep at 9pm.
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