This fountain is at the heart of downtown Seoul. I realized as I was uploading today's pictures that we are light on travelogue and heavy on pictures of the kids...please remember my primary blog target is still grandparents, so I have to prove to them that I am keeping their grandkids happy. As the blog visitors have mounted I realize there are a lot of other folks reading along, too, which is surprising but fun for me. I hope our experiences encourage others to take the plunge into travel in Asia. Our tour of Seoul was planned by a 21 year old, so we were light on culture and heavy on FUN! So of course we went to Lotte World, a Disney-esque indoor and outdoor amusement park. It was the Halloween special weekend, so each of the kids got a mini-costume included with admission and the place was decorated for my favorite holiday -- which has definitely penetrated here more than China.
Can you guess who this is?
We really had a blast in the attractions, especially the "Ball Battle" featuring foam balls and air cannons -- but Sophia and I took refuge away from the fray..
Sophia had her first experience at the wheel..
Even Mr. Kim, Alvin's dad joined us for some fun (only Michael missed out, since he was off giving his paper to the American studies conference).
Attached to Lotte World was a folk museum which we saw at the end of the day...wished we had more time because we were quite amazed by it, especially the enormous room full of miniature dioramas of Korean life -- quite impressive and very engaging. Thomas and I kept thinking about "Night at the Museum" and imagining them come to life.
And some hands on practice at grinding grain the old fashioned way...
Korean royal court in miniature...
On Sunday we visited the Kims at their home, which is a really spacious luxury apartment, including a lovely greenhouse running the whole length of the apartment -- Mrs. Kim loves plants and flowers.
The home was fairly Western in style, but less cluttered, and we removed our shoes at the door and were given slippers to wear. In the living room the coffee table was also surrounded by cushions for sitting on the floor in the traditional manner of Koreans (and Japanese also do this). In fact, Korean homes are heated through the floor boards, so a lot of activity happens on the floor -- including sleeping. (In the Kims' case, the parents have a Western bed but the kids still sleep on the floor)
We enjoyed spending time with Alvin's family, since he really became part of our family during the 2 years he spent living with us through the NACEL program. He graduated from Canisius High School while with us, and got into a good college, and while it was not always easy having an adolescent from around the world in our home, the lifelong friendship is well established. For Helen especially, it is like seeing her long lost sibling, since he lived with us when she was so young. And the Kims treated us like visiting royalty.
This is the backyard of their complex -- it was a beautiful fall weekend.
Here we are at Mrs. Kim's favorite Korean restaurant. We are sitting on cushions at a low table. The meal involves lots of small dishes, salads, kimchee (hot and spicy pickled cabbage) and meats.
We also had rice cooked with nuts and served in bamboo cups. The lettuce in the picture was used to make a roll with meat and lots of Kimchee and rice.
In the afternoon, Alvin's big surprise was revealed as tickets to "Nanta", which means "Cookin'" in English. This show appealed to all ages, from Sophia on up, and was very funny, and easy to follow the story as much of it was nonverbal and a few words of English were provided here and there to keep the meaning in clear. Have any of you seen this show? It has toured New York and Toronto. The rhythmic chopping and banging of kitchen utensils makes up the soundtrack for the story of the antics of the chefs in a Korean restaurant preparing a wedding banquet. There is also a lot of audience participation. Our previous day at the museum gave us just enough Korean culture to appreciate the historical references and jokes. I would really recommend it to anyone!
Afterwards we had autographs and a photo with the cast,of course!
Our last outing was to the Seoul Tower, atop Namsan Mountain, which rises up in the midst of a wooded area in the heart of the city. Unfortunately it was a bit rainy and foggy at the top, but on the way down we saw a lovely cityscape to cap off our visit to Seoul.
Our trip home was our first air travel mishap so far in Asia, as our stroller never appeared in Beijing, so we were late through customs and got to the check in counter after the connecting flight was officially closed...with some pitiful begging by me, they got us on the flight by upgrading 3 of us to business class and giving us 2 single seats in coach. So we ran and they held the flight for us. Of course I had to sit with the girls....so I had a lovely flight with real silver ware, English papers and a bread basket, while Michael and Thomas suffered...maybe a small price to pay for a $25 stroller with a broken footrest? Maybe it will still turn up, I did file a claim, so we shall see.
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