The weather forecast were quite bad from late morning so we didn’t wait much, left early and took the bus to Nara park, then walked to Todaiji Temple. We were lucky to get a 15min private guided tour. Our guide Nobu told us about the history of the site and the japanese traditions at the temples, like for example how to wash our hands prior to entering the temples. The bronze Budha statue inside the building is massive -because of the construction technique involving broad casting platform made of sand, the building was built aftervthe status was finished.

No sign of rain yet, we continued our walk in the park, to the Great bell and the Nigatsudo and Sangatsudo halls. Sarah got a nice calligraph there. We took a tea in a nice break room – free for everyone to take a cup of tea, as long as you clean the cup afterward. We went for lunch in a restaurant nearby, with a nice view on a shrine. We all took soup with noodles, great occasion to practice our chopsticks technique.

The rain hadn’t come yet, so we walked to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine, on the other side of the park.

We’re staying in a nice japanese house not too far from the city center. Perfect for our family, with three bedrooms, a nice kitchen and most importantly a washing machine. It all looks and feels very japanese: futons, thin walls, sliding doors, tatami, rice cooker (and fancily colored appliances), electronic toilets etc.

We all had a long night of sleep, and feel much fresher today. We had breakfast at the house, then took the bus to the temples area.

We dropped our bags at our Airbnb and went for an afternoon walk downtown Nara. No specific plan besides wandering around, delaying sleeping as much as possible and buying food for diner and breakfast.

We still manage to get to the parc area with some beautiful temples and the deers – so many of them.

On our way back home, we finally found a supermarket! Sarah and I did the shopping – sushi for diner! Séverine and the boys went home.

We spent the rest of the day napping on the sofa while watching our first world cup games.

We were all in bed early, it didn’t take much time before we all fell asleep. It had been a long travel day.

We’re on the bus to Nara, the first capital of Japan. Sarah and Timo are taking a nap, Hugo is still awake and full of energy, despite the short 1.5hrs of sleep he got on the plane.

It’s warmer than in Oslo, about 27 C, but quite cloudy. Driving along the Osaka bay, we didn’t see much of the view… We drove to Osaka, through the industrial areas, then towards the mountains through more residential suburbs, alternating with rice fields.

We’re in Japan! We were welcome by our good friends Mario and Yoshi.

We picked up our SIM card for the stay, bought our bus tickets to Nara where we will spend the next days.

The flight was nice, we ended up getting two meals, a relief! We didn’t sleep much on the plane, besides Timo who had a good 4 hours of sleep.

It’s good to be done with that part of the trip – having arrived clears out much of the stress, especially for the parents.

After a short stopover at Helsinki airport, we have boarded for our flight bound to Osaka, Japan!

‘Will we get a meal on board’ was the interesting question the kids asked while waiting for boarding… hm, we actually don’t know, didn’t really check. On the positive side it’s nice to have an element of surprise when travelling.

The boys are captivated by the cameras on top of and below the plane. Not sure they will even watch a movie during the flight.