Enjoying Seoul

Yesterday we got in some great sightseeing. We've been waking up quite early, ready to go. But, have to wait until things get started. There doesn't seem to be many shops, marts, or even coffee shops that open early but, everything stays open late. This gives us some time to update the blog and get in some computer time.

Our hotel is great! Everyone speaks pretty good English and are more than gracious. The concierge almost laughs when we approach because we ask so many questions about getting around before we venture out. :)

We started out the day taking the Hotel Shuttle to a subway stop about six blocks away. Since it was raining, we decided to take the shuttle rather than walk. It's been raining pretty steadily since Monday afternoon but, luckily it's a light rain and we can still get out without getting soaked. We took the Subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This is a sprawling palace just on the edge of downtown Seoul. It's beautiful!



After walking around the palace for awhile, we decided we were going to walk over to Insadong, a nearby market. We knew it wasn't far but, it was quite humerous trying to find our way there. We just kept asking until we got there. Our last inquiry was at a nearby hotel. We finally found the entrance behind the "big brush"......ahhh the "big brush". We were so excited when we spotted it.

Insadong is an artsy neighborhood of Seoul that is known for it's huge market. It was pretty empty when we got there. I think because of the rain. By the time we left, the rain had let up a bit and it was packed. We shopped and just browsed around. The people were all so accomodating and welcoming. We stopped for coffee and then lunch after a few more hours of shopping.

This market seems to attract a young crowd. The tweens seem to like us American tourists (or maybe they are just laughing at us....ha! ) . They would wave, giggle, say "hi" or "hello" and then giggle some more as they ran away. We even had some older students ask us if they could interview us for their English class.

Here they are posing after KJ's interview.

After a great afternoon of shopping and taking in the culture, we walked back to the Subway and then walked back to the hotel for a short rest. We needed it after all that walking around.

Our next stop of the day was the Seoul Tower. This is a great sightseeing spot at the top of Namsan mountain. You can see all of Seoul from the tower...every direction for miles and miles. It's incredible.

On the gates and "lock trees" surrounding the tower, you'll find thousands of upon thousands of "love locks". People place locks on the gates symbolizing that they will never seperate.....locked in love forever. We knew about the locks and hoped to place one on the gate for our two children. Sadly, we didn't bring any locks with us. I guess we just assumed we could buy locks there but, couldn't find any. We hope to make it back to the tower but, not sure if we'll be able to.

One of the highlights of the tower, is the observation deck. That's located in the big dark circle you see near the top of the tower in the pictures.

Here are some pics from the deck...

While we were up in the tower, we decided to go ahead and have dinner in one of the restaurants located up in the sky :). We chose a great place that serves Italian cuisine...yes, Italian....although we love Korean food, it was nice to have something a little different. Pictures of this restaurant could not do it justice. So, we took a little video, you'll see below. Our tables were attached to the windows facing out to the amazing view the entire time.

After dinner, we headed down the tower and we're delighted to find it all lit up.....just beautiful!

It was really an amazing day.

We are saving all our pictures here. There are quite a few so, you probably don't want to bore yourself. But, if interested...feel free to check them out!