day 2: Namsan Tower, Myeong-dong & Cheonggyecheon

Wednesday morning we set out for Namsam Tower, also known as North Seoul Tower, also known as That Giant Antenna Thing I Always See in Dramas.

To reach the top of the hill it sits on, we had the option of taking either a bus or a cable car. Guess which one I picked. ;) Unfortunately they moved us along really quickly and I wasn't fast enough to snap a picture of the car itself, but I did get to see a pretty killer view:

I don't know if it's because I was standing in the middle of the city or because it's actually so big, but from Namsam Tower, Seoul looks so. big. You look out from the hill you're standing on and it's like, "Oh look there's Seoul. Oh wow look, there's more Seoul. Oh gosh over there. More Seoul!" The only places I did not see any Seoul were the mountain peaks that poke up midst the rest of Seoul. So, so, so much Seoul.

I was told to return after dark if I wanted an even better view. I will definitely try to do that.

Also it really cracked me up when I was taking these pictures because the air quality that day was at almost the best level it can be, and yet you can still hardly see anything because there is just so much moisture in the air. I will never complain about Cincinnati's humidity again.

(Lol wait who am I kidding, I will.)

Also, I was surprised to find that Namsan Tower is not just Namsan Tower. It's also a place where people come and put "locks of love" on every available surface, and is where the geographical dead center of Seoul is.

Yes, those are trees.

Some of those locks have been there for a while, too.

This lock made me smile the most (in part because it was one of the only ones I could read):

This too, although it's not a lock and also I do not really understand it:

Anyway, after having our fill of the incredible view from Namsan Tower--

--we took the cable car back and then walked down to Myeong-dong, which is a really big/famous shopping center. On the way we decided to check out a Korean animation museum, which was pretty cool. The bathroom there had this jem:

Soap on a stick. That is new for me.

The way Myeong-dong's streets were organized reminded me of all the big stores around Marienplatz in Munich, with three-story namebrand shops everywhere and pedestrian-only traffic. Some of the shops' employees were armed with microphones and called out to people passing by. Thanks to my obviously-not-from-here features, I was not bothered. :)

What's up Namsan!

The nature of our visit was not to shop but to find lunch. We ate at this supposedly really, really famous noodle place that's been there for fifty or sixty years (which is pretty amazing, considering everything Korea has been through in that time). I had never heard of it before but JB was really excited to eat there. It was okay. I mean I didn't dislike it, because it did taste good, it was just kind of oily for me personally. Also in this restaurant, I confirmed the concern that had been niggling in my mind for a few days that I am not as adept at using chopsticks as I believed I was. Either that or those noodles had vengeful wiggly minds of their own. In this case I think I can safely give them the benefit of the doubt.

I took twice as much time to eat less than half the amount that JB had, haha. It was pretty bad. However since then, I am happy to report that I have noticed an increased ease with which I now use my chopsticks. I'm thinking that it probably helps that I'm using them for every single meal.

After eating we went home to rest for a while and to wait for the sun to set so that we could go to Cheonggyecheon (!!!!!).

It was even more beautiful than I thought it would be. I could not take a single picture that would do it justice.

Part of its beauty are the things you can't really capture with a camera, like the sense of community you get from strolling along with total strangers, all of you there for the sole purpose of relaxing and enjoying something wonderful. I'm not sure how to describe it but it was just so soothing to listen to the sound of the water mixing with the quiet voices of everyone we walked by. Even though we were in the middle of the city, I don't remember hearing a single car. It was so serene. I hope whoever designed that thing got a really nice bonus, because they definitely deserved it. It's perfect.

We also walked past some sort of live game/car/thing show being filmed:

Kinda cool. I have no idea what it was. The glass room you see beyond the car is where the people (contestants, announcer, etc) were sitting.

Anyway when we got home, I had effectively run myself into the ground and was able to sleep through the entire night, which is why this post has come on Saturday instead of Thursday. My jet lag still hasn't completely passed, but it's definitely receding. I can't wait to stop being exhausted all day long!!