So Long Seoul

We spent our last day in Seoul walking to bottom of the hill where the Seoul Tower is located, taking a tram to the top of the hill, and going to the top of the tower for 360° views of Seoul. This city is about 100 times larger than I thought. It's divided by the Han River.

While we were visiting the tower and a National Art Museum (an amazing exhibit of Rubens, van Dyck, Brueghel the Younger, Brueghel the Elder, and others), Elizabeth took a tour to the DMZ, the zone that separates South Korea and North Korea. No photos allowed. Darn it.

Walking towards the Seoul Tower.

A tram took us from the bottom of the hill to the Seoul Tower park at the top of the hill.

These chimneys are at the top of the hill, Beacon Hill. 450 years ago they, and others on other hills, were used to communicate warnings of invading armies, just like in the Hobbit movies. This probably where the Hobbits got the idea.

Jimmy stands next to one of many places on Tower Hill where lovers have placed padlocks to symbolize their love. Robin knew about this custom from some of the Korean TV series she has watched at home. Hmm, that looks like an International Shakespeare Center T-shirt.

Jimmy found a love lock for golf. Awwww.

This photo doesn't show it, but, according to a quick count I made, there are at least a billion locks hanging all over the place up here. Hey, where did he get that International Shakespeare Center shirt? It's strange, but I've seen shirts like that everywhere I've gone in Japan and Korea. I guess they really are international.

USA is over that way. We head that way tomorrow afternoon.

The Han River and the rest of Seoul is over there.

A typical Korean couple doing a traditional heart pose in front of stacks of love locks. You'd never catch me doing that.

More locks. After putting a lock up here, it's traditional to throw away the key. I wonder how often an ex-lover comes up here with bolt cutters.

After the Seoul Tower (shown in the background) visit, we took a taxi to the National Museum of Korea.

Relaxing at the Rubens and Other Masters exhibit. This guy insisted on posing with me.

Thai Tea for two. Unfortunately, we didn't know it was for two and in a bucket. That, along with the spicy shrimp, fried chicken and curry, made for some blog material we won't go into at this time.

Signage on a door alerts you that there are no babies, smoking, kissing, dogs, ballet, or guns allowed inside. Just obey the signage and you shouldn't have any problems.

Yesterday in Seoul

We did a lot of walking yesterday. Almost 15 kilometers according to Jimmy's app. And, as usual, we did a lot more and took more photos than I've had time to include in this blog. But that's a good thing. I've shown a lot more food photos than I ever thought I would. Sorry about that.

A giant calligraphy brush bronze sculpture reminds me that I haven't had time to sketch.

After visiting the palace mentioned in a previous blog this morning, we found a market that a friend of Jimmy's told us about. It's a long alley of food shops. You go to an upstairs dining area in the middle of the market and buy a handful of tokens (5,000 won for 10 tokens: approximately $5). You're given a plastic plate and then you stroll through the market picking out food from stands that have a special sign saying they are part of the food deal. Most items cost 2 tokens. Then you take your plate of food back to the upstairs dining area and try to find a place to sit. Or you can eat as you go. 

The dining area was crowded, but we squeezed in.

Items, left to right: don't know, don't know, don't know, WTF, fried chicken, don't know. Very Yummy. 

An hour or two later we found ourselves far from the big city stuff and stopped at a small, very cool looking coffee shop. There was a cool looking guy sitting out front. I almost asked him for a photo, but decided against it. After we relaxed and paid for our coffee, the woman owner gave us a bag of fresh ground coffee and said the guy outside had given it to us. Turns out he's the coffee grinder, an artist, and musician.

Robin asked him to autograph our bag of coffee. I used my Google Translate app to tell him thank you for the coffee.

When in Korea, I like to hang out with cool guys. Jimmy noted that not just anyone can pull off the Lennon-glasses look, but this guy owns it.

The coffee-grinding station in the coffee shop.

Last night we checked out a lot of menu signage as we walked past endless food shops. This is one of the options we passed on. 

We ended up at this small-but-great place located in a small alley across the street from our hotel. Lots of different kinds of fried chicken.

Soul Food in Seoul

After landing at the airport we took a cab to our hotel in the older downtown area of Seoul (the newest downtown area is the Gangham area on the other side of the river from where we are). The Korean lady at the front desk, whose English is better than mine, told us we could find restaurants and bars just several blocks away. After walking through an interesting alley of small cafes we came upon a modern, big-city street, crossed the street, turned down a side street and found the Seoul that  Hollywood location scouts look for. We've realized that in both Japan and Korea, there's at least one restaurant per person. 

We picked a restaurant that featured grilled meat, mostly pork. I didn't get the camera out in time to get an actual photo of meat. The green bottle is soju. We had several of those. Several too many. Very tasty though. Our favorite alcoholic drink.

This building is near our hotel and makes a nice landmark as we roam around the city, day or night. I think it's either an office building or maybe the galactic headquarters of an evil genius.

A Korean Palace

Our first full day in Seoul started with a walk through the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds, an massive place with massive empty courtyard areas and massive amounts of Koreans since it was a National Cultural Holiday. Fortunately the crowds seemed sparse due to the massive-ness of everything else.

The palace wall separates the ancient stuff from the modern stuff.

We continue on to other parts of the city.

Oh Yonago

Just got in (1 am) from drinks at Jimmy's favorite bar, the Red Lion, a ten minute walk from his apartment. The owner is a master mixologist, the kind that makes his own ice cubes with an ice pick from a block of ice. 

When we arrived at the bar there was one other patron, kinda what you might expect on a Monday night. After a short while several English/Japanese language teachers that Jimmy knows came in. Soon the place was full, about 15 or so people. The owner got his assistant to take group photos of him and all of us. Then everyone in the bar joined in taking group photos with us.

But first . . .

The day started with Jimmy dropping Elizabeth off at a ocean-side spa for a massage, then he and I went to driving range to hit golf balls. At this place a tee drops below the artificial turf mat and comes back up with a golf ball. I hit over 300 balls without ever bending over to put a ball on a tee.

Back to the bar story:

Cross over a small canal on a small side street to get to the Red Lion bar. Bars here open around 9 pm and stay open until the last customer leaves, usually around 3 am or later.

Jimmy and his friend, Kenji, the bar owner. Super friendly. Great mixologist.

Lots of new friends at the Red Lion, Jimmy's (and our) favorite bar. This guy happened to recognize Jimmy from Facebook because he knows the girl Jimmy was dating until recently. When Jimmy told him they had broken up he leaned back in amazement, saying "Oh my Ga, oh my Ga, oh my Ga!" He was flirting with Robin and, being a hair stylist, was in love with her hair-do. He liked my hair too, he said, but that's what they always say when they're flirting with Robin.

Jimmy with three other English teachers, sort of an impromptu teacher conference at the Red Lion. Tim, on the left, is Chinese and from San Francisco.

Robin and Elizabeth, working the room. Eventually, everyone in the bar got into the spirit of things and joined us in big group photos. I'll try to get some of them from Jimmy.

Complimentary bar snacks.

When the drinking devolves into arm wrestling (Jimmy, on the right, vs Ohara-sensei, another English teacher), it's just about time to start walking back to the hotel. But first, a few more hugs,  hellos, goodbyes, and group photos. An amazing night. Oh Yonago!

Yonago Yummy

We've been having a good and delicious time here in Yonago, Jimmy's hometown. Several of the meals we've had here are the yummiest we've had in Japan. This small cafe, Ships, is a short walk from Jimmy's apartment. 

Dessert just came to the table. Gotta go. More later.