Today we headed to Seoul for a long weekend. Michael has the next 4 days off, so we thought it would be fun to take a mini vacation. Seoul is a large and bustling city with plenty of places both historic and modern to visit. You could probably spend a year in Seoul and never see and do all the things it offers. Sadly, we have seen lots of different and exciting cities all around this country; but we haven’t really done the tourist thing in Seoul yet. So we loaded up the car just before naptime, and off we went! These kids are the greatest travelers ever. I suppose they’ve become little expert travelers after all the trips they’ve taken. We can always count on them napping in the car while we drive, and awaking at our destination refreshed and ready to go!
Babies like this make for a blissful car trip!
Seoul’s highways are always gridlocked. It doesn’t matter what time or day off the week you arrive, coming and going on these highways is always a nightmare.
The kids were very happy to arrive at the hotel and get out of the car. I think they knew they were in for a fun filled weekend!.
<
We’re staying on post (Yongsan) at the Dragon Hill Lodge. They have such a beautiful garden behind the hotel. I’ve always wanted to take the kids pictures in the garden, but we’ve never had the time. With all the leaves changing, it was even more beautiful today, and I was so pleased to finally get some shots of them playing in the little paradise.
This picture just warms my heart! I hope they’ll always love each other as much as they do today.
After lunch and a walk through the garden, we headed over to the playground. They have such an awesome playground here. You may remember it from when we traveled home to the states last August. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown just since then. Parts of this playground that held very little interest for them just a couple of months ago, today were very exciting to them! They really conquered the slide, and figured out how to climb up to it on their own.
I think Ella wins the “slider” award today. She was in heaven flying down the slide! She spent most of her time on the playground climbing up to the top of the slide, and then flying back down. I wish I had caught it on video so you could hear her excited laughter as she spiraled downward. I may not have a video clip to share, but I think this picture of her as she whizzed by me explains it all.
He wasn’t so sure about going down the slide on his bottom. He’d start out on his bum, but mid flight, he’d turn over to his stomach where he was much happier.
Of course, no picture from Korea would be complete with a kimchi pot. These are the large pots used to make kimchi. Once the cabbage has been tenderized, they rub it with pepper paste and place it in these big pots outside to ferment. These pots are EVERYWHERE! I doubt there’s a home in Korean that doesn’t have at least two of these pots full of ageing kimchi.
Our first stop on our little tour of Seoul? Seoul tower! Located in Namsan Park, it stands on a mountain high above the city. It’s 236.7 m high (777 ft). Just to get to the tower is a bit of a hike. It would’ve been a 2-mile hike straight up hill, but we took a taxi as far as possible, and only hiked the last leg. It was well worth it! I can’t believe how beautiful Seoul is in the autumn. Even at the base of Seoul tower, you can see all of the city and the mountains surrounding it. Everything was ablaze with brilliant shades of yellow, red, and orange. Truly breathtaking!
Hiking up to the tower base was so beautiful! I couldn’t get over the views from up here! Oh, and don’t worry, Michael was pushing the stroller, not me.
At the base of the tower we found an ahjeemah making cotton candy in a very old timey way. I know in my lifetime, I’ve never actually seen cotton candy made like this. I was fascinated. It was just like a kick pedal sewing machine. There she stood, kicking this little wheel, and spinning up sticks of fluffy cotton candy!
Sterling wasn’t sure what to think of the piece of cotton candy we gave him. I think he was confused by it’s airy texture.
Ella knew exactly what to think of cotton candy. It was sweet, and she liked it! Can you guess what I was washing out of my hair tonight?
One of the views of the city below. I’m so glad we decided to go to the tower in the evening. It was so pretty watching the sun set over Seoul.
We rode to the elevator up to the observation deck at the top. Standing at 1,574 ft. above sea level, you feel like you can see the whole world. Ella and I enjoyed the view.
Sterling was awestruck by the height we were at. Don’t you wonder what he was thinking looking out that window at the tiny world below?
11,061.86 km from NYC. On each window was marked major cities or countries in the direction you were looking. From this window, Sterling and Michael could’ve seen New York City sitting a short 11,061.86 km away. Better eat your carrots little boy if you hope to see that far!
By the time we came back down the tower, nightfall had descended on Seoul. I wish my good camera wasn’t on the fritz. I would’ve had a lot better picture than this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment