Found myself wandering through the old quarter this morning, the kind of aimless drift that starts with coffee and ends who-knows-where. The bakery on Elm was already sending out waves of butter and yeast—that specific 6 AM smell that makes you forgive a city for basically everything else it does to you.
Took a wrong turn near the antique shop (which I'm 90% sure is a front for something, given it's never actually open) and stumbled into a courtyard I'd walked past a hundred times without noticing. Brick archway, maybe four feet wide, easy to miss if you're looking at your phone. Which I was. Until I wasn't.
Inside: three elderly men playing cards at a folding table, a ginger cat supervising from a windowsill, morning light coming in at that perfect angle that makes dust look intentional. One of the men glanced up and said, "Lost or exploring?" I laughed and said both, probably. He nodded like that was the only correct answer and went back to his hand.