Girls Day Out - Hello Kitty Café, Cats Living Here & Thanks Nature Café!

And the snow, snow, snow came down, down, down and girlfriend started singing..
(I think I'm clever and that is all that matters.)
Maybe she wasn't singing, maybe she was freezing.
Either way we bundled up and head out to the Hondage area for a little Mother/Daughter fun!

                                                       The first stop on our list was the Hello Kitty Café! 
I've read about this place for years and really couldn't wait to go to the Hello Kitty Café. (Girl just came along for the ride.  She is a good daughter.) Not that I am a huge Hello Kitty fan, but because it is a HELLO KITTY CAFE. I mean Hello Kitty, whose real name is Kitty White was 'born' in Japan in 1974 and she is going stronger than ever here in Korea.  Not only are there 4 or 5 Hello Kitty Cafés here in the Seoul area, but you can find Hello Kitty on everything! Pens, pencils, erasers, backpacks, purses, clothes, mugs, key chains phone covers,  and just about anything else you can imagine!  I had to see what was so fantastic about the Hello Kitty Café.   The entrance is cute enough.

Here we go!

My first impression was that of disappointment.
I was expecting a 'sit down' dining experience.
The Hello Kitty Café is more of a 'coffee shop'.
You enter and the counter is right in front of you.
You place your order at the counter.
They were out of all the super cute Hello Kitty cakes I had read so much about. They young lady behind the counter said you have to come early to get the cakes, even though the store had only been open for 2 hours when we arrived.
Humm.
 Girl and I just ordered hot chocolate and coffee.

All those empty plates on the top shelf are the 'sold out plates'. Grrrr...

We took our buzzer and headed upstairs to look for a seat.

While we were waiting for our drinks we explored the place a little.
The Hello Kitty décor was cute and everywhere. 

After about 10 minuets our buzzer FINALLY went off.
How cute are these drinks?!

After one sip Girl said, "This isn't hot chocolate, this is warm chocolate."
She was correct.  Warm chocolate and coffee.

When we picked up our drinks we ordered a waffle. Koreans are CRAZY about waffles.  They don't eat them for dinner, they eat them for dessert.  True story.  (It only took about 5 minutes to get the waffle which was a HUGE improvement from the coffee.)

As we were leaving the Hello Kitty Café these two guys caught my eye.  They were sitting in the Hello Kitty Café with their computers spread out across the table and they were working.  IN THE HELLO KITTY CAFE.  If we were in the states I probably would have called the police.  I meant that is just weird.  But who knows, maybe they are the owners.  :o)

Pros:
Ridiculously cute!
Prices were pretty average for Seoul.
They deliver on Hello Kitty.
If you have a little girl that loves Hello Kitty, she will LOVE this place.

Cons:
It took a long time to get our drinks.
Drinks were warm, not hot.
Restaurant was dirty.
They were out of Hello Kitty cakes 2 hours after opening. 

I can now say I have been there, done that and don't feel the need to every do it again.

                                                               Next up, "Cats Living Here" café! 

Girl was super excited about the Cat Cafe!
I forgot she had never been to a cat cafe....remember her birthday?
Cat Living was about the same as the Cat Cafe in Myeongdong - 8,000 won for me, 7,000 won for Girl.  Plus you get a FREE drink - more coffee and hot chocolate :o) 

However the rules at this cat cafe were way more fun to read! 

Don't take my picture with a flash! NO.

Please don't pull my tail. If you do, I will cry.

If you push me hard on my tummy my eyes might pop out of my head.

Do not feed hotdogs, hamburgers, packaged foods or fish to me. I would love it, but the mean owners say no.

Don't drip nasty fluids from your hand while I lean against the wall. I will not like that.

We are not Yin & Yang, don't pretend we are.

If you let your baby pull my head off and poke me in the eye I will put them in the sink and wash them like clothes.

Girl followed all the rules.

The cats at this café were SUPER LAZY.  Girl tried and tried to get them to play, but they would have none of it.

We hung out with the cats for about a hour before heading out to our next adventure....

Thanks Nature Café
No REALLY that is the name of this place.
Thanks Nature Café.
This place is a SHEEP CAFE.
Sheep, as in bahhh, bahhh....
SERIOUSLY, SHEEP. 
Are you as shocked as I am?
No?
You should be.

At least the sheep were not INSIDE the café roaming around.  They were in a little enclosure outside.  During the summer months they open the doors to the café so you can have more of an 'outdoorsy, sheepy' experience.

They left their food container outside near the pin so Girl started helping herself. 
The sheep were super nice.
Of course girl now wants one as a pet.

In between stops we did a little shopping, people watching and we took a few pictures for the "Not Quite Right" portion of the blog.  You will have to wait and see what they are, but for now we leave you with these....

This girl did not get the memo that it is the middle of WINTER!!  Temps are in the 20's!  Hello.  You know she was freezing.

I tried to get Girl to go check on the discolored Garfield to see what was wrong with him, but she was afraid.  :o)
We really thought his pink boots were a nice touch.

This is what we were walking on for most of the day.  Sheets of ice.

To get there by subway take line 2 to the Hongik University Station go out Exit 9 walk straight then turn left at the big street. Walk for a little while, you will pass Taco Bell on your right and then you will see a Starbucks Coffee shop on the left - turn right at this street go to the next street, alley and turn right walk until you see the street fork off to the left and go up a hill - take this hill - you should see Hello Kitty Café on left - about 2 stores past the Hello Kitty Café is the Cats Living here Café.

To get to Thanks Natural Café - continue on the street with Taco Bell and Starbucks. Cross over to the left side of the street.  You will see a long shopping center with 2 floors.  Thanks Nature Café is on the far end bottom corner.

Have fun!