Thursday, June 24, 2010, Nara, Japan, 4:30 pm –I am typing this in our room in the 101-year-old Nara Hotel, a lovely historic building that a card on my side table tells me is a “Heritage of Industrial Modernization.” I could think of some more poetic tributes, but that’s what it says. Einstein stayed here in 1922 and played the piano in the lounge downstairs. There are pics of emperors and emperors-to-be on the walls, as well. For all that, it’s surprisingly reasonable — you pay less for the old building, which has such great ambiance, and way less than a traditional Japanese ryokan. Our room has a non-working but cool fireplace and high ceilings paneled in gorgeous straight grain fir. Best of all is the air conditioning, since it is hot hot hot outside — not as humid as it has been but still it’s good to be inside in the afternoon.

Will is wearing his red ninja costume we bought yesterday at the ninja museum in Iga-Ueno, a town an hour from here that was home to an important school of ninjas. We toured a house filled with trick doors, escape hatches and hidden swords, and watched a live “ninja” demonstration. Will found it all quite cool. There was also a rebuilt samurai castle with a great view and cool old samurai weaponry and armor inside that thrilled Will. He is so much fun to travel with — he gets enthusiastic about most everything.

It was our first day without the Ahmads yesterday, which was sad, but they are off on wedding adventures. We had an amazing nine days together; it was so much fun seeing Japan through their eyes and sharing a place we love with them. Will and Ibrahim had a blast, and Asma was a delightful travel companion. We managed to blend our two totally different travel styles — Asma got me to slow down a bit, and she was nice to not complain about my “get up at the crack of dawn and go until you drop but not until after dinner” philosophy I inherited from my parents.

We left them on a Shinkansen platform in Nagoya, and I trust they are safely home now. (we got a text they had made the plane….) So since Tuesday, we have been braving the sightseeing on our own.

The past two nights we stayed in an old ryokan that emanated faded elegance — lovely large tatami mat rooms with views of a garden, even a private bath with a garden view. It was early century meets the 60s meets some serious flooding and mildew and perhaps lack of a repair and upkeep budget.

But the service was delightful — a lovely “obaasan” or grandma with a musical laugh took such good care of us, serving us amazing elaborate meals that Will ate with surprising gusto. He has become quite fearless in his eating — he declares fish eyeballs delicious, and tries everything, even when (often) we have no idea what it is. The only thing we’ve passed on is the raw fish ovaries, which Asma the OB/GYN first spotted in a market in Kyoto. Well, we were served those same ovaries two breakfasts in a row and just couldn’t do it. I managed to eat the salted sea creature guts the night before and that did my adventure quotient for the trip. We did, however, try turtle, which was beyond delicious. Will loved it. Thank god we weren’t served whale (maybe we were and didn’t know it) because we probably would have eaten it and broken some IWC regulation.

We had planned on staying two more nights in the ryokan, but the vast quantity of food for breakfast and dinner was wearing us down, so we escaped to the Nara Hotel. When you are staying at a ryokan, you feel obligated to eat everything, which is frankly impossible (especially without Rick :))

Just ask Asma — our last night in Takayama, our ryokan, in what we believe was a misguided attempt to please the boys, served us — after countless “starters” that had filled us up (we’re talking sashimi, tofu, pickles, a dish boiled over a fire on the table, among other things I’ve forgotten) — two, yes two, pizzas, along with four steaks (beef being a local specialty). And that wasn’t all. Last came rice and miso soup — which we told them to save. And finally the dessert buffet. We kid you not. I think my cholesterol shot through the roof — Asma kept saying she thought we would lose weight on the trip, and I assured her it wouldn’t be a problem, but I was wrong — I will be on a diet the rest of the summer!

So anyhow, we find ourself in this old hotel, relaxing after a busy day. We first got settled here, then visited the Kofukuji temple that has an amazing museum filled with Buddhist sculptures between 1,300 and 600- years old. Again, Will declared it the coolest place ever and told me to slow down so he could enjoy each sculpture. You’ve got to love the boy. He also finally persuaded me to buy some deer food to feed the sacred deer for which Nara is famous. The first time I tried to buy food, I got butted (yes in the butt) by a large-antlered deer and told Will to forget it. But Will begged, so I bought him some biscuits. Three large deer with significant racks chased him down — I was fending them off with my sun umbrella — and he tossed the whole bunch of biscuits at them and we ran for our lives. Ok not for our lives, but sacred or not, they are nasty.

Well it is almost dinner time, so I’d better go. Best to you all and see you soon!