entry nº 22f // 20180812

[part 6 of an ongoing series]

•so yeah, here we are in NARA still. it’s jan. 22, of course. it’s chilly and rainy and our hands are cold, jackets a bit soaked through. luckily we found a MONTBELL store tucked in this little store zone by the soba place we went to for lunch, and i purchased a little compact backpacking umbrella, which remains useful to this very day. so that helped w/ the raindrop situation. later on, before heading to the train back to kyoto, we popped in to a convenience store, warmed up w/ hot coffees, and got a pack of adhesive-backed handwarmer pads. crucial. 

•anyway, walking down the little street toward the train station, we passed by an OWL CAFE that we had spotted earlier. heather and me kind of looked at each other, like, wait do you think it’s still open? we went up the stairs and poked our heads in. it’s a small place, basically only two little tables inside, and it’s still open, yes, and we were the only people there, alongside the manager and two high-school-age-ish employees, all of whom were super sweet and friendly. basically, you pay, how much was it, twelve bucks or so? for an hour session in there that includes a drink and snack. and there are just owls hanging out all around the place. of course heather and i are a little bit, like, yo, where’d these owls come from, is this okay, and so forth. but also as someone who “likes owls,” and who has had a portentous-feeling dream or two involving them, the whole experience really got me. 

to be continued