First full day in Japan

Osaka After a great night`s sleep and a lovely shower, Betty and I headed to the JR station to activate our JR Pass (think Eurail Pass for Japan. )  Then we headed out for Nara, about 40 minutes away to visit the Giant Buddha and other temples in this much smaller city. We WALKED and WALKED and WALKED! My feet are hurting and I`d love to spend tomorrow relaxing at an onsen (Japanese hot spring). There were a few school groups around and one of them stopped us to ask what were our names, where were we from, what did we like - sounded like a school assignment. Each temple we washed our hands with ladles of water. Some girls also drank but we didn`t risk that. Nara was the first capital (but only for 75 years) back in the 700s AD. The first Japanese emperors came from here. Then when a priest seduced an empress, they moved the capital far away to Kyoto.  We found a restaurant to have dinner (we are using up the oatmeal I brought - thank you, Michelle - with some added nut and tangerines for breakfast) and had a bowl of rice, with tempura shrimp and veggies on top - and of course a beer! It was delicious, albeit expensive! We may try to cook here at our CaminoRo guesthouse tomorrow.  The young couple who apparently live here and run it have an 18 month old little girl - so cute! I`ll have to show them Sarah`s picture!  In for the night and ready to relax!