No one made a plan for breakfast, so I did. I found a nice little bakery that did loads of French toast options and croissant options with fruit and chocolate, and they seemed to have good coffee too. Taking a seat at the entrance after putting our names down on the waiting list, we sat surrounded by loads of pot plants in a quiet, tucked-away spot right in the centre of town.
After only a short wait, we were shown to our table and given a QR code to order our food (which is pretty standard out here). But most of the nice-looking items were sold out apart from a few. The French toast, eggs, and bacon were what I had planned to have, and that was still available along with a few other things. But the guys complained about the cost, saying 2000Y was too much for breakfast.
So we got up and left and went downstairs to the takeaway part of the bakery, where they have huge trays of croissants and honey-soaked breads and other tasty things. Helping ourselves and loading up a tray, we got some items and then went to sit in the roof garden. Two items and a coffee came to about 1800Y, and no one batted an eyelid at the price.
Moving on, we found the Kintetsu line out towards Nara Park. We were doing the full length of this line and so made sure to get a seat. This brought us to one of my favourite days out in Japan last time.
Wow, it’s busy! Much more busy than when we were last here. We had arrived much earlier in the day, so maybe the numbers hadn’t had much time to grow, but today it was rammed! So many people crowded out of the train and up the main street that we ducked off early and got into side streets as soon as we could. Something else that was immediately noticeably different was the huge warehouse-looking thing in the centre of the temple grounds! A sign on the outside said that they were undertaking some preservation work on the five-storey pagoda. It was in progress from 2022 till 2031, and so we must have been lucky to have seen it just before it was covered.
No problem, we were mostly here for the bowing deer, and shortly beyond the warehouse we found them. They were hanging around the shops that sold the deer crackers, just waiting for tourists. They knew exactly who to prey on—significantly more insistent than last time, they followed and jostled to get to the crackers the screaming girls were waving around. We walked a fair way up the path before we gave in and bought some and started feeding them. I made a point to only reward good behaviour, as there were a few that had gotten a bit nibbly and head-butty.
After a short ice cream break, we set off up a boundary track, looking to make a circular walk around the main temple complex. It was nice and quiet and wound its way through the hills under the cool cover of trees. This carried on slowly uphill for a few km until we came to what looked like an abandoned or severely neglected temple complex around a small stream. The steps up to it were wide and flat but thick with moss from infrequent passage. Nevertheless, we hiked the short way through the deserted complex to the top and found a very calm place of worship that was all locked up. Without any more context, we headed back down and checked the map for progress.
Turns out we had marched past our turning a way back and not noticed. It was also going to be another +10 km to complete a larger circuit. So back down the track we headed, and before long we found our track posted with a “Keep Out” sign in several languages. Looks like we wouldn’t be making this a circular walk after all.
Back in the park, we wandered through the temple complex and marvelled at the beautiful buildings and ancient trees. There was a wisteria in full bloom that was signposted as over 800 years old. It was supported by an expansive bamboo structure over the courtyard, offering everyone shade and wafts of wisteria perfume. It was wonderful—apart from the crowd.
Making our way back to the train line mid-afternoon, we were really hungry now. Some quick decisions turned out to be the best fried chicken dinner with rice and pickles we had ever had. The beer also went down far too easily!
Full of food, warm, comfy, and rocked by the motion of the train, we enjoyed the hour back into Osaka. The train has to conquer a small mountain to get to Nara, and so on the way back, we enjoyed a panoramic sunset view across Osaka. It was very peaceful and resulted in a few less than 40 winks.
But it would be a shame to call it a day when there was so much to do here, and so we set off in search of Maidreaming—the maid café chain we visited before. This made Kai go super red with embarrassment, while Nath was loving it!
We all ordered ice creams and drinks, delivered by cute waitresses in short frilly maid skirts. It’s a fine line between cute and sexy and very hard for Westerners to see the difference. All the drinks and food were delivered with beaming smiles and cute little happy dances. And the ice creams were decorated very delicately to look like bears or cats or dogs.
Just to enhance Kai’s red face, I ordered him a “sexy sour” cocktail. This is where a maid attends with the drink and does a special chant and dance, casting a sexy spell on the drink. You better drink it quickly before the sexy wears off!
