Sorry I’m a day behind, but we have had very busy days.  We had the usual buffet breakfast and set out for the sake museum and distillery.  We were shown the old distillery and how sake is made.  Then we went to the tasting room where we sampled 3 kinds of sake.  I really don’t care for sake even though the stuff at the distillery is supposed to be very good.  I took pics of the people serving us.  Then we were off to Nara and the Todaiji Temple.  Before we went to the temple we stopped for lunch.  I wanted the room where we would sit on the floor, but they showed us to the room with chairs.  See pic.  I had a vegetarian meal because the regular meal contained shrimp.  Then we went on foot to the Todaiji Temple which is the largest wooden building in Japan.  The temple also houses the largest bronze statue of Buddah.  The temple is situated in a large park the has at least 1,000 Sitka deer.  While in the temple I went trough Buddah’s nostril which is supposed to bring good luck.  There is a picture of me emerging from the very small opening.  There was no traction as I was trying to get through the hole, but the passengers on our bus became my cheering section and I made it.  I took a picture of the picture on Marsha’s  camera. After the temple we got on the bus and headed for Osaka.  In Osaka we went to the Osaka Castle.  The grounds and castle are beautiful.  We went up to the 6th floor and worked out way down through the museum.  No pics allowed in the museum, but some of the samurai outfits were amazing for their time.  Then we went to the Dodonbori district which is known for neon and mechanized signs.  It was really really crowded there.  Very interesting, but very crowded.  Then back on the bus to drop people off at their hotels.  We were the last to be dropped off at 8;30pm and we still needed to get dinner.  I would mention we have had no English speaking TV for a few days and as I am writing this Marsha is totally engrossed in a Japanese travel channel.

Back to dinner.  Several other people were in the same hotel with us so we all went out to dinner together to the only restaurant open.  The trickwas to find it.  It was through the mini mart across a walkway to the hotel across the street.  We got to the hotel, got in the elevator- but no 25th floor where the restaurant should be.  So we all went to the 52nd floor thinking everyone got the numbers reversed.  Wrong.  We all went back down to the ground floor where we found another building that had a 25th floor.  These buildings are massive.  Finally we found a restaurant, but they were closing.  Down to the other end of the hall. Yeah!! – a restaurant that is open.  We had to take our shoes off and when we were seated had to figure out what to eat since most of the menu was in Japanese.  Also we had to order on a tablet and there would only be one bill.  We did the sensible thing and ordered a caraf of wine.   We also ordered food and had a really fun time laughing at our misadventures.  Finally time for bed since it was late.  Tomorrow we have to take the train to the center of Osaka since we are staying out by the airport.  It is about an hour ride.  Remember almost everything is on Japanese – no roman letters so it can be difficult figuring things out.