Yeouido

We've been planning a trip to Seoul ever since we got here in February, but things kept coming up. Well, we finally made a trip. 

We took the train. It was easy and comfortable and about $10 each way. Not too bad. I took a lot of photos on  the train ride. The window was really dirty though, so there are streaks on the pictures...sorry. The Korean countryside is pretty much gorgeous now that winter is over. We had a really enjoyable trip over. I took pictures and read a book on my kindle. Michael read and watched a movie on his ipod. 

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We arrived in Seoul around 1 pm. We were hungry but determined to get to our destination before eating, so we forged on. We took two lines on the subway and made many mistakes on which stops to get off at. In Seoul, there are many repeated station names, so you need to read very carefully. All in all, we made it. It only cost us a few thousand won to backtrack a little. We got off at Yeouido. There is supposedly another station in Seoul's business district being built, but the other stop that we got off at is a ways from the "action" of the area. Our main destination there was the 63 Building, which all of our students talk about being fantastic. 

I suppose a kid would think it to be fantastic. There is an aquarium and a IMAX, as well as a wax museum and some sort of ride to the top of the building. The building is 60 stories tall, 3 stories are underground for a total of 63. I was led to believe that the viewing of the top was free, but it was 12,000 won and over an hour wait, so we decided not to do it. We ate at a Japanese Fusion chain restaurant that I now can't remember the name. Michael ordered the sushi set and I ordered the fried tofu set. They were okay. We found it funny that even though we were at a Japanese restaurant, our meals still came with kimchi and radishes.

After our stop at the 63 building, we headed over to Hangang Park, which was just across the street. I had planned on going to Yeouido Park, but it was farther away. It was just as well, because Hangang Park was pretty much awesome. There was a huge biking lane and lots of grass for hanging out, flying kites and camping. We rented a tandem bike and went for a ride. It was a lot of fun. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. 

We rode about 10 miles I'd say. I'm not sure how long the lanes continue, but I think they might connect to other parks as well. If we lived in this area of Korea, I would definitely consider buying a bike. We headed back to the subway station around 6:30 to head for Yongsan, a trendy district of Seoul.