Ohayo mina-san !
(English version of the post named "Inari et Nara")
Saturday, August 14h
Inari
It was a very long road. We only had 2 stations but it took us 2 hours. Why ? Because, once again, we listened to one of JR (Japan Railway) guys. He told us : platform 8, 9 or 10. We went to platform 8 because this train left sooner but in fact, it didn't stop at Inari. Thus, we went all the way up to Nara!!! Yeah!
When we arrived, we started climbing Mount Inari. It took us 2h30. We climbed at least 5000 steps! At the top, we were in such a sweat ! Apart from that, the site was beautiful with all these red-orange toriis. There were thousands of it. There were also statues of kitsune (fox) everywhere.
 |
| Fox (kitsune) |
 |
| Toriis reverse side |
 |
| Toriis head side |
 |
| I told you there were many steps |
 |
| Purifying fountain |
 |
| View of Kyoto from Mount Inari |
The way back was a surprising road. We met cats (alive), frogs (statues) and... mosquitoes (REALLY alive!). By the way, I (Gaëlle) was biten at least twenty times T_T !
 |
| Cat (neko) |
 |
| Purifying fountain |
 |
| To take revenge for this offending picture the Gods sent me their most dangerous weapons : the mosquitoes! |
Sunday, August 15th
Nara and Daimonji
 |
| Boud-deer (surname of this statue : mix of Bouddha and deer) |
This time, the road was less long :-) We started with a 5-story pagoda. Then, direction the main centre of interest of Nara : deers. Soline shot (with her camera, of course) these little Bambi but they were not cooperative. They chose grass over Soline. I don't know why. :-p
 |
| 5-story pagoda |
 |
| Deer |
 |
| Solinette with Bambi |
 |
| Gaelle befriends a deer |
 |
| Deer are everywhere in Nara |
Then, Daibutsu. One more. But this one is inside (while the Daibutsu of Kamakura is outside). This Daibutsu is the biggest bronze statue in the world. Solinette visited this site alone because I've already went there last year.
 |
| Daibutsu (detail) |
 |
| Daibutsu |
Later during the afternoon, we went next to a pond and we rowed a small boat. Well, I rowed and Soline enjoyed. We had a nice view on a bridge, a gazebo and trees in blossom. All of this under a beautiful sunset...
Our boat's aventure : here |
| Pond |
 |
| Solinette on the boat |
 |
| Gaellou at the oars |
 |
| Bridge under the sunset |
Night coming, we went toward Kasuda Shrine, a shrine with 3000 lanterns (2000 stone lanterns and 1000 paper lanterns). They were all lit because of a biannual celebration.
 |
| Lanterns' celebration |
 |
| lanterns' celebration |
 |
| Lanterns' celebration |
 |
| Lanterns' celebration |
Finally, we observed Daimonji. Wierd event of the celebration of the Deads. Thousands of persons gather to watch a kanji (meaning "big"), located at the top of a moutain, be lit. It lasts 2 min and then everybody leaves. Strange, isn't it ?
 |
| Daimonji |
We went back to the station and we had a coffee in a kind of Starbuck. And there, I met Mikado-kun (the weakness that will lose me - slogan of the French Pocki, called Mikado). A real bisho! Yummi!
Jane (see you)
Gaellou and Solinette
