My first visitors! part 1

This has been a busy month so far. On November 1st, my dad and stepmom came to visit me here in Japan for almost two weeks. We were quite busy, and were able to see many things in the Kansai area of Japan. The main reason they decided to visit during this time of year is to see the leaves change color. Well, as it turns out, Japan has stayed warmer a little longer this year, so it looks like many of the leaves will turn more toward of the end of the month. But we enjoyed the colors we did see. I will make multiple blog pages for this trip, due to the sizes of the pictures, I can only put so many on each page. I also will use a mixture of pictures from all three of us, so I can’t take credit for all the good ones.
Dad and Georgie’s adventure started rather smoothly with my friend Shogo making a very generous offer to pick them up from the airport in Osaka. One of the first things we did that night was to take a picture to show dad in proportion to my doorways. Let's just say he left Japan with many bumps and bruises on his head. I had to go to school on Thurs, but came home early, so we picked up some bento lunches and had a nice picnic at Wakayama Castle. They both really enjoyed the castle grounds, we never actually made it inside. On the north side of the castle, there is a tiny zoo with a small bear, a beaver, deer, and many birds, including one that kept repeating something in Japanese. The bird knows more Japanese that me!
That night I made dinner with mushrooms that both dad and Georgie found interesting. On Thursday, we made our way to Nara. It was their first train ride in Japan. Luckily I had done this train ride before, so it was a little easier. There were many people in Nara, so there were fewer deer. Many deer turned their nose to the sembei people offered because they were already full from previous tourists. But appearently the one in the picture prefered the newspaper. Although the main attraction is the giant Buddha, dad seemed more fascinated with the large wooden structure that enclosed it. He also was quite intrigued with the joints and corners that looked like intricate puzzles that held all the buildings and roofs together.
Also pictured is one of many tonkatsu dishes we had this trip, some of the leaves as they begin to change colors in Nara, and a couple guys pounding mochi.
Oh my gosh, that is only two days!