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In Japan, you have the opportunity to visit so called owl cafes, which is exactly what it sounds like - you go in and have a coffee while being surrounded by owls (and some other birds). This little fella here is from Nara, a famous place in Japan that is crawling with deer in the city centre. When we finished checking out the local temples and had enough of taking photos of deer, we found an owl cafe on our way to the train station. The rule is simple - get in, get a coffee, and stay no more than 1 hour. There are also some birds that you cannot touch, either because they are on break or because they simply dont like it. Initially it feels odd to see so many birds chained to a relatively small area - especially considering there were some owls that were massive! However, we have been told the birds are very well kept after and before opening hours, and any sign of stress would have the bird brought to an open area right away for the remainder of the day. One may think whatever about keeping birds in a cafe like that - but it was an interesting experience for sure. When I was in the cafe, this bird here was on break, meaning no touching or getting too close. -Phillip
Herbrechtingen is a small town in Germany - and just outside of it, there are these stone pillars. It's a nice 20 min walk through the german countryside to get here, and there is literally nothing else around, but the strange formation is worth it. Here is the legend of that place in a nutshell: There was a castle with a princess. She was pretty but also very proud, no one was good enough for her. She became old and men weren't interested in her anymore. The princess started to hate all men. The princess forbids her two female servants to have anything to do with men. The two servants would once a day go and fetch water from the river and return to the castle for a full winter, without incident. In spring, the servants hear singing on their daily walk, follow it, find a fisherman, spent time with him, and are happy. The princess suspects something's up, follows them, gets into a rage, and screams 'Become stone! This shall be your punishment'. The two servants turned to stone - and those are the two spikes you see here in the image. The story ends with lightning destroying the castle and killing the princess. Love the good old happy ending stories of old... Phill
I don't think I need to explain what these are. I went into the smaller one on the left - and let me say, being nearly 2 meters tall (I think that's like 2 washing machines in the US) is not a benefit when walking into a tomb. You walk in a crouching position for several minutes, pass some ladders, feel the air getting thick and the temperatures rise as you go in - until you reach a small chamber of maybe 5 by 3 meters. There is no decoration, no ornaments, no wall painting, just a small tombstone and one guy waiting for you. As you arrive, he takes pictures of you with that tombstone - for a price, of course - and you walk back out the way you came in. If you are faced with the choice and you really want to go inside one of the pyramids, choose the smaller one. The larger one is exactly the same, just with longer walks and a higher entrance fee. It's a tomb after all - if you want wall paintings and such, there are enough temples around!
