The absolute highlight of today has to be the Magical Cavern. High in the hills overlooking St. Charles bridge is a somewhat run down house with strange artwork scattered about the grounds. Ben (Woodbury) and I stumbled* upon it, and our eyes fell on a doorbell with an arrow and a sign saying "ring to enter." Ben rang the bell, and a large bearded man in starry pyjamas opened the door. We entered his home with a Russian couple following not far behind. He first greeted us in English, and without asking or missing a beat he turned and greeted the other party in flawless Russian, and lead us down a spiral staircase to the wildest basement ever to exist.
Covered in spray-foam moss, the room looked covered in magical mold. Both disgusting and fascinating, the lumpy walls were covered in fantastical paintings and sculptures, with winged seahorses, surreal landscapes, and the same woman represented across dozens of paintings. Stone statues were strewn about as well, twisted faces of gargoyles and demons staring out of empty eyes. The proprietor gestured to a table bearing jugs of wine and asked if we wanted a drink. We politely refused, as by this point we were pretty sure this man was a wizard of some sort. Everyone knows not to accept gifts from wizards**. After some minutes of perusing, we exited the house to explore the hillside. We took a trail to see where it would lead us, and after a few minutes of wandering through the hills we landed... right in front of the magical cavern. Thoroughly spooked we ran downhill, and luckily we found our way back to the hostel before he could lure us back into his fantasy art exhibit***.
* We expected it to be there
** He was very nice and probably not an actual wizard
*** We were never in actual danger
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