Best Holiday Ever. Day two. Daytime

So Rachel and James headed off to Himeji for the day, which gave me time to do some shopping (more on that later) and then make my way to a bird park, which I had found online completely by chance and wasn't really sure what to expect.  It was well worth it.  Here are just a few of the tonnes of pictures I took:

Birds!  The green ones started to comb my hair with their beaks.  You could hold them and feed all the birds in the aviary.

Yes, that is a toucan on my arm.  That beak was scary!

 I timed it perfectly for a small bird show I didn't know was happening.



 This guy was part of the show.  He kept buzzing us.  It was awesome!

 I got to hold an owl!  It was big, too.

 The feathers on this little guy were unbelievably soft.

The photo before this he looks absolutely adorable, but then he gave me the stink eye.  Much better.

There was a pool of medicinal fish.  For 100 yen you got a small towel and as long as you wanted to have your feet or hands nibbled on by these tiny fish.  It tickled like mad!  Got rid of all the dead skin, though.  It was strange to be doing this in a warm glass house while the snow poured down outside. 

The lobby and restaurant area and shopping areas were all in these massive glass houses with hanging flowers and pools with lillies in to eat around.  I totally lucked out on this find.  Recommend it to anyone who is heading to Kobe!