Nara is my new favorite place

I spent the night at my parents' tiny hotel room last night so that we could get up early this morning to head to Nara! Nara is famous for it's shrines and temples, which are located in its massive Deer Park. I'm going to shamelessly copy and paste from Wikipedia again:

Tame deer roam through the town, and especially in Nara Park. These deer might be considered "tame" if the visitor does not have any "shika sembei - Deer Biscuits" when they see them.

According to the legendary history of Kasuga Shrine, a mythological god Takemikazuchi arrived in Nara on a white deer to guard the newly built capital of Heijō-kyō. Since then the deer were regarded as heavenly animals to protect the city and the country. Snack vendors sell small biscuits to visitors so they can enjoy feeding the deer. Some of the deer have learned to bow in response to tourists' bows. They nudge, jostle, and even bite for food.

I hung out with Santa while we waited for our express train from Kyoto to Nara.

As we made our way through the park, we came across several vendors. They were selling the flat, thin biscuits in packs that tourists can feed to the deer. Not wanting to miss out on being harassed by ungulates, the three of us bought shika sembei.

The second you buy those biscuits...the deer know.

As you can see, deer are everywhere.

Fawn!

^ Here's a video of my mom and a deer bowing to each other. She really got a kick out of that.

After wandering around a feeding deer, we went to go see the Daibutsu. It's a giant bronze buddha...the hand is as large as six tatami mats (that's the size of my room)! Totally awe-inspiring. If I was religious...seeing something like this would really make me believe, you know?

Wafting incense around you wards off illness.

In the back of the building, there's a giant column with a hole in the bottom. Legend has it that if you can fit through the hole, you can become wise. This is a little cruel, since only children, flexible, and/or skinny people can make it through.

Victory.