October 26, 2025
Day 54 — Nara
I have the true privilege of reporting on a day where we did very little, which conformed 100% with our plans.
We woke up when we were good and ready in our room at the Haraya guest house. Made some coffee, worked on a couple of blog posts, had a light breakfast in our room, then headed out for second breakfast.
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Second breakfast was at a French bakery in central Nara, on the second floor, where we also got second coffees and second pastries. It was that kind of day. After that we strolled around the shopping arcades, looking at all the things we couldn’t buy, and having more snacks.
Also on the packed agenda was getting the bikes (or at least my bike) a little love. My rear hub had been feeling rough for a while, and there was a slight wobble suggesting someone with a cone wrench needed to have a look. Just up from our hotel was a bike repair shop, which seemed to also sell Salsa bikes, which is the type of bike I ride. Seemed to be propitious.
The repair shop was out of a family’s garage and driveway, and was only open Saturday and Sunday, so this was likely more of a side hustle/labour of love. Through google translate I explained the problem, the repair guy got to work and in short order everything was tight again, hub rolling nicely. He also had a go at the brakes, which was great. The financial damage was ¥1000 — C$9.15 On a trip like this one becomes a little hypochondriacal about the equipment— every click, rub, or weird vibration becomes a harbinger of doom. But no, all is well, and minds at ease we moved on to the third item on the agenda. A soak.
We had a bit of time to kill as the onsen we chose for our soak wasn’t open until 3. We got some groceries — breakfast for the next day, and meandered around the neighbourhood. We ended up down at a small train station, where a man was playing an upright piano and wailing away — seemed odd for a train station to have live music in the middle of the afternoon, but whatever.
The onsen for today was much newer, and there was a bit of a crowd when it opened. I will note that at both today’s and yesterday’s onsen were men with very elaborate tattoos. One in particular today had a full back tattoo that started mid thigh and covered back of legs, buttocks, back and shoulders in an integrated design with dragon scales and a fierce looking deity figure.
Post soak was dinner, which we had at an oden restaurant. Oden is basically a bunch of dumplings and other items simmered in broth. Good for a cool rainy night.
And that’s it. We are among the very few tourists to have visited both Kyoto and Nara and not gone to any temples, shrines or other attractions. Though we would remedy that on the way out of town tomorrow…
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