Tuesday, July 31st
Seoul, South Korea
We got a later start this morning due to our early morning arrival. Fortunately, right by our hotel is the Hollywood Coffee Shop & Café. It was the perfect place to plan our day’s adventures. We decided the best way to see the city would be to do the hop on, hop off city bus tour to give us a good overview of the city and all the neighborhoods. We took the metro to one of the stops by City Hall. The subway in Seoul is a lot like Taipei, in that there underground cities at the stops. There are 7-11s, clothing and shoe stores and food vendors. Plus, there are about 10 exits for every stop. At the City Hall stop, I was sure if we were ever going to be able to find the exit we wanted! The best part of the subway is the warning trumpet that sounds as a train is approaching. It’s such a soothing and relaxing tone. This is stark contrast to my subway experiences in Beijing. I know Seoul does have the same population as Beijing but we weren’t packed in like sardines, and no one shoved us onto or off the train. I find Seoul to be a much more relaxed and enjoyable place. I think its democracy!
We hopped on our tour bus and started riding around the city. We noticed that the people are better dressed in Seoul than what we saw in China. Maybe we weren’t in the business areas in China, but we’ve noticed a very different standard of dress here than China. After awhile on the bus, both Valerie and I were getting sleepy so we thought it would be best to get off and walked around so we hopped off at N Seoul Tower to check it out. I am so glad we saw it up close. It has amazing views of the city and is covered in love locks.
The legend goes that if lovers made a wish on Namsan (where N Seoul Tower is) it would come true. Now, the area is an icon for love and friendship in Seoul.
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| N Seoul Tower |
In addition to enjoying the views, I enjoyed a kimchi hot dog for lunch. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but it was a good and the kimchi was spicy!
We got back on the bus and headed around the rest of the city and then met up with Claudia, Andre (her husband), and Carol-Anne. Today is Carol-Anne’s birthday so we were ready to take her out to dinner to celebrate. We also met up with another of Valerie’s friends from college who teaches conversational English to adults here in Seoul.
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| Celebrating Carol-Anne's b-day at Din Tai Fung |
Carol-Anne also shares my love of Din Tai Fung so we thought it would be the perfect place to take her for dinner. Unfortunately, this Din Tai Fung experience was not as good as my others in Taiwan and Shanghai. Here’s to hoping they open one in Washington, D.C. soon!
Andre is retired military so he took us to Itaewon to some of his old stomping grounds when he was stationed here. It was cool to talk to him about his experiences here 25 years ago and how much the city had changed in his eyes. We all enjoyed a great night out and look forward to our remaining two days in Seoul!
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| Out in Itaewon |
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