After a week up in Nagano we headed south and took two bullet trains and several local trains to arrive in Nara.  My family lived in Nara for about 3 years in the late 80's so I was excited to visit again. 

Kingsley waiting for a local train...hmmm what is wrong with this picture??

Our hotel room 

In Nara we stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel called Ryokan Matsumae which was run by a wonderful Japanese woman Naomi.  She was an incredibly gracious host which made our stay at the beautiful Ryokan so memorable. 

Arriving for breakfast in our traditional yukata's (bathing clothes). In our room there was a little info packet which explained how to properly wear the yukata.  It is important to place the left section over the right section as right over left is only used when dressing a body for a funeral.  Of course my wonderful Mother somehow forgot this rule and to the shock and horror of the hotel staff and other guests, arrived for breakfast "dead". 

Another important rule is to never wear your indoor slippers or shoes on the tatami mat floors. Upon arriving at breakfast Kingsley managed to get about halfway across the tatami floor before one of the staff noticed and frantically began waving their arms and pointing at his feet saying "NO...NO!" I think its safe to say we were not the most cultured guests they had ever had, but at least we kept things lively. 

For bfast my parents ordered traditional Japanese and Kingsley and I tried the American style which Kingsley was thrilled to discover included a very large scoop of strawberry ice cream.