Mountains in killer heels
Good afternoon, or mid-night for those of you in the states!
As it is Monday afternoon here and I am at work, I will make this brief-ish, or as brief as I can while still being thorough and enjoying the act. And of course, per the norm, I am in a cafe leeching their wifi and my break-time is limited, so please excuse any hasty typos.
So let us begin, but where to start? Last weekend was quite fun, full of sight-seeing, exploration and great food! After Kyle's going-away-dinner-turned-Itaewon-extravaganza, Taylor and I were quite tuckered on Saturday and feeling a little lazy, plus the weather wasn't decent until later in the afternoon, so we stayed in, relaxed, read, gamed, napped, tidied-up & did research for future Seoul exploratory ventures. But around 6 we started seriously talking about what our plans would be, we still wanted to be lazy. but we couldn't quite commit to spend an entire day inside, even if the idea didn't sound so bad. So I opened up my handy-dandy google app and typed in the most innovative and ingenious five words you possibly can when you are looking for an adventure in a new city!
"Things to do in Seoul"
Viola! Twenty-five attractions scroll the top of my screen, even before the web page links. I opened the ones that looked enjoyable (about 20 of the 25) and then organized them by which would be the best for the weather, season, and of course, our mood, as well as times and prices. By now Taylor's opinion comes into play as I give him a synopsis of the remaining candidates for the evening, and he chooses...Namsan Mountain/North Observatory/Namsan Tower and a whole slew of other names. But basically, something similar to the space needle (on a less grand scale) in the center of Seoul on top of a mountain (Namsan), or as Wikipedia describes it:
Namsan is a 262 metres peak in the Jung-gu district of south central Seoul, South Korea. Although known as Mount Mongmyeok, or 목멱산, in the past, it is now commonly referred to as Namsan.
The N Seoul Tower, officially the YTN Seoul Tower and commonly known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower, is a communication and observation tower located on Namsan Mountain in central Seoul, South Korea. At 236m, it marks the highest point in Seoul.
Interesting, no? That is what we thought, and at just a short 35min subway ride away, it was hard to turn down. By eight we were on our way, and as it is a popular date site, and we were going on a Saturday night, we thought it would be open quite late...which it was, unfortunately the restaurant in its base was not, and Taylor and I were left hungry and craving burgers during our tour, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I give you, Namsan!
But first, a cool cube Taylor & I found on our way to Namsan (after the subway, before the bus). So now, I give you...Namsan!!
But first, didn't the city look pretty from the mountain side? Oh yeah, I almost forgot...I give you...Namsan!!!
But first, some pretty sidewalk light designs on our way up the mountain that I thought were just too neat to NOT photograph...now where was I?
Oh yes, NAMSAN TOWER!
*Cue fanfare*
Our first glimpse...
Getting closer...
In all it's glory. Now the tower was green on this particular visit, however it changes colors regularly via lights and is sometimes a rainbow, sometimes pink or purple or dotted or striped, it is a piece of art in and of itself, as many modern buildings are in Seoul.
Now, in order to arrive at Namsan, Taylor and I subway-ed to Itaewon, walked up part of the mountain, and then took a shuttle a little further up the mountain, and then walked up the last bit to the tower, and let me tell you, it was quite a trek! I've been wearing my UP24 band everyday and though in the US it was a goal to make it to 10,000 steps everyday, in Seoul, I'm easily hitting 14,000-17,000 without even trying. Yes, not having a car is not only good for lowering stress, but also lowering the circumference of thighs, though Taylor and my foodie tendencies are trying to even this out.
As stated earlier though, our foodie plans were squashed this evening, as Taylor and I arrived at "Best Burgers in Seoul" where I had already scoped the menu and decided to go for the mushroom burger, and it was closing! Alas! But Taylor consoled me by promising that we would return on a warmer evening, earlier, and enjoy the dinner date we had originally planned. But since food was no longer on the immediate agenda, we turned our sights upwards and took the thirty second elevator ride to the top! And even at night, with dirty windows (I don't think window washers scale the beast of a building often) and the haze of one of the world's most polluted cities, the views were breathtaking!
Now mind you, these were taken on a less-than-professional iPhone camera (thought I plan to spend part of my first paycheck on a nice one) and also, this only catches a small sliver of the city, but I did take pictures out of each cardinal direction...though South didn't turn out, so you only get East, West and North, respectively (I think).
And what is a tourist attraction without a selca! >.<
One of Taylor's favorite amenities was the bar at the top of the tower...
The candy bar that is, which had every kind of treat from gummy bears to chocolate covered gummy bears to chocolate covered espresso beans to...fried eggs? We ended up going back for seconds (first chocolates, then jelly varieties).
Around this time my feet began to hurt and our stomachs began to rumble and we didn't want to miss the last subway home, so we headed back down from the tip (an elevator ride which only took 25 seconds) and walked back down the mountain, and then got on the bus that took us further down the mountain, and then walked back to the subway station, and then subway-ed all the way...until it stopped at a random station and the driver told us all that it was midnight, the subway was closing and we had to vacate. The other passengers were compliant, leaving Taylor and I the clear deer in headlights of the group, but we knew this would happen eventually, with our eerily lucky tendency to grab the last subway, we figured it was only a matter of time until we didn't make it all the way back to the end of the 6 line to Bonghwasan, and the fat lady seemed to be singing a grand solo. So we did what any tourist would do...we did what everyone else did and followed the grumbling subway crowd to an above ground subway (aka bus), bused to our work, and then began the walk home.
By now our stomachs were roaring like the Kindie kids I read "Brown Bear' to, and I had been so hyped up about the burger joint at Namsan I knew nothing would satisfy me but a substitute burger., So Taylor and I did a horrible thing...we stopped at Mcdonalds :O I'm not proud, but at least I'm honest! And it was quite good, just the yummy, slightly-less-foreign-but-still-pretty-foreign, not-nearly-as-greasy-or-salty-as-the-US nutrition we needed. I swear everything in Korea somehow has less calories in it that its American counterpart, even a small fry and burger here is hardly over 350 calories...how do they do it! O.o
Besides their strangely healthy food, they have one more advantage over us in the US...their delivery system.
And finally, I leave you with the above picture, which has no segue at all, just the fact that I found a defacement of property that I very much liked, because it was from a Shawol (Shinee fan). And because they spelled 'once' as 'onse'. I like the poor grammar/spelling of Korea, it often gives me a little laugh in the middle of my day :)
And now you know of the amazing views and adventurous journey home that was my last Saturday night.
More to come,
All of my love,
Tea
P.s. Per the title, I did all of the above walking in the most beautiful but hiiigh, motorcyclist-styled heels you can imagine, yeah, I know, I'm bad :)
As it is Monday afternoon here and I am at work, I will make this brief-ish, or as brief as I can while still being thorough and enjoying the act. And of course, per the norm, I am in a cafe leeching their wifi and my break-time is limited, so please excuse any hasty typos.
So let us begin, but where to start? Last weekend was quite fun, full of sight-seeing, exploration and great food! After Kyle's going-away-dinner-turned-Itaewon-extravaganza, Taylor and I were quite tuckered on Saturday and feeling a little lazy, plus the weather wasn't decent until later in the afternoon, so we stayed in, relaxed, read, gamed, napped, tidied-up & did research for future Seoul exploratory ventures. But around 6 we started seriously talking about what our plans would be, we still wanted to be lazy. but we couldn't quite commit to spend an entire day inside, even if the idea didn't sound so bad. So I opened up my handy-dandy google app and typed in the most innovative and ingenious five words you possibly can when you are looking for an adventure in a new city!
"Things to do in Seoul"
Viola! Twenty-five attractions scroll the top of my screen, even before the web page links. I opened the ones that looked enjoyable (about 20 of the 25) and then organized them by which would be the best for the weather, season, and of course, our mood, as well as times and prices. By now Taylor's opinion comes into play as I give him a synopsis of the remaining candidates for the evening, and he chooses...Namsan Mountain/North Observatory/Namsan Tower and a whole slew of other names. But basically, something similar to the space needle (on a less grand scale) in the center of Seoul on top of a mountain (Namsan), or as Wikipedia describes it:
Namsan is a 262 metres peak in the Jung-gu district of south central Seoul, South Korea. Although known as Mount Mongmyeok, or 목멱산, in the past, it is now commonly referred to as Namsan.
The N Seoul Tower, officially the YTN Seoul Tower and commonly known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower, is a communication and observation tower located on Namsan Mountain in central Seoul, South Korea. At 236m, it marks the highest point in Seoul.
Interesting, no? That is what we thought, and at just a short 35min subway ride away, it was hard to turn down. By eight we were on our way, and as it is a popular date site, and we were going on a Saturday night, we thought it would be open quite late...which it was, unfortunately the restaurant in its base was not, and Taylor and I were left hungry and craving burgers during our tour, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I give you, Namsan!
Oh yes, NAMSAN TOWER!
*Cue fanfare*
Now, in order to arrive at Namsan, Taylor and I subway-ed to Itaewon, walked up part of the mountain, and then took a shuttle a little further up the mountain, and then walked up the last bit to the tower, and let me tell you, it was quite a trek! I've been wearing my UP24 band everyday and though in the US it was a goal to make it to 10,000 steps everyday, in Seoul, I'm easily hitting 14,000-17,000 without even trying. Yes, not having a car is not only good for lowering stress, but also lowering the circumference of thighs, though Taylor and my foodie tendencies are trying to even this out.
As stated earlier though, our foodie plans were squashed this evening, as Taylor and I arrived at "Best Burgers in Seoul" where I had already scoped the menu and decided to go for the mushroom burger, and it was closing! Alas! But Taylor consoled me by promising that we would return on a warmer evening, earlier, and enjoy the dinner date we had originally planned. But since food was no longer on the immediate agenda, we turned our sights upwards and took the thirty second elevator ride to the top! And even at night, with dirty windows (I don't think window washers scale the beast of a building often) and the haze of one of the world's most polluted cities, the views were breathtaking!
And what is a tourist attraction without a selca! >.<
One of Taylor's favorite amenities was the bar at the top of the tower...
The candy bar that is, which had every kind of treat from gummy bears to chocolate covered gummy bears to chocolate covered espresso beans to...fried eggs? We ended up going back for seconds (first chocolates, then jelly varieties).
Around this time my feet began to hurt and our stomachs began to rumble and we didn't want to miss the last subway home, so we headed back down from the tip (an elevator ride which only took 25 seconds) and walked back down the mountain, and then got on the bus that took us further down the mountain, and then walked back to the subway station, and then subway-ed all the way...until it stopped at a random station and the driver told us all that it was midnight, the subway was closing and we had to vacate. The other passengers were compliant, leaving Taylor and I the clear deer in headlights of the group, but we knew this would happen eventually, with our eerily lucky tendency to grab the last subway, we figured it was only a matter of time until we didn't make it all the way back to the end of the 6 line to Bonghwasan, and the fat lady seemed to be singing a grand solo. So we did what any tourist would do...we did what everyone else did and followed the grumbling subway crowd to an above ground subway (aka bus), bused to our work, and then began the walk home.
By now our stomachs were roaring like the Kindie kids I read "Brown Bear' to, and I had been so hyped up about the burger joint at Namsan I knew nothing would satisfy me but a substitute burger., So Taylor and I did a horrible thing...we stopped at Mcdonalds :O I'm not proud, but at least I'm honest! And it was quite good, just the yummy, slightly-less-foreign-but-still-pretty-foreign, not-nearly-as-greasy-or-salty-as-the-US nutrition we needed. I swear everything in Korea somehow has less calories in it that its American counterpart, even a small fry and burger here is hardly over 350 calories...how do they do it! O.o
Besides their strangely healthy food, they have one more advantage over us in the US...their delivery system.
Why don't we, as the grand founders of the great gift that is the Mcdonalds chain, have this?!? Hmph.
And now you know of the amazing views and adventurous journey home that was my last Saturday night.
More to come,
All of my love,
Tea
P.s. Per the title, I did all of the above walking in the most beautiful but hiiigh, motorcyclist-styled heels you can imagine, yeah, I know, I'm bad :)
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