Six in Seoul

Day 6:  Somewhat of a lazy day.  Hubby, Grammy, Boy 1 & Girl all went to E-Mart and then to electronic row.  Hubby has yet to do too much damage on electronic row; however, he is just waiting for his friend Big R to visit from Texas in December.  I will be scared when he heads there with Big R.  After the family outing Grammy and Boy 1 went to Iteawon for MORE SHOPPING and lunch.

Photo below is in E-Mart by the Kimchi counter (I think).  Girl is somewhat disgusted.  She is NOT a fan of most Korean food.

Grammy and Boy 1 having lunch in Iteawon.

Hubby bought dinner and brought it home.........

Day 5: We headed out to Osan Airforce Base to do a little shopping for purses and blankets.  We took the bus from Yongsan to Osan.  When we arrived at Osan we were informed that I needed a chaperone pass to get Grammy onto base, the guy let us on anyway…THANK YOU kind sir.  If he had not let us on, it would have been a huge pain in our backside.  After we disembarked the bus, I thought we might have a problem getting back onto post (since the shopping area is right outside the gate) to ride the bus back home, so I did a little checking.  Anyway, long story short, Grammy could not get back onto Osan Airforce Base to ride the bus home – we ended up taking a cab to the subway for our journey back home.  

Grammy had a long list of purses to get for friends and family, so I introduced her to my purse lady.  We shopped and shopped.  Grammy was in heaven, and on a shopping high.  Now remember I told you that most Korean’s don’t hug?  Well, when Grammy finished shopping here, she got a hug from the purse lady, and this is why.....

We also stopped into the blanket shop for a few blankets.  Below is a picture of Girl and Grammy having a great time shopping.

Day 4 is still not over.  After TKD we fed the kids, gave them baths and put them to bed! Then we headed out to one of our favorite little restaurants in Iteawon, California Rollin (sushi). I neglected to take pictures at California Rollin.  CR was closing, so we had to hurry and order, we didn’t get as much food as I would have liked, so we headed out to the streets of Iteawon and ordered street food. Eating street food is an experience all tourist need to have.  We ordered fried squid and yakiemandu (I’m sure the spelling is incorrect).

Grammy & her boy outside of McDonalds....

Friday after pottery shopping, boy 2 tested for his yellow belt. 

This was a very proud moment for him, and for me...I had tears in my eyes as he broke the boards.  He kept telling his Grammy I have to just "TRY" to break the boards.  He wasn't convinced he could do it, and I honestly think he was worried he would not be able to.

After breaking the the board with his fist....

Then with his foot.....

And with his broken boards.

Day 4: Pottery shopping in Yeoju with Grammy........

Enough said.

On Thursday we were scheduled to go on the DMZ tour.  I knew there was a dress code.  When I made the reservation they told me no blue jeans and to dress nice.  I followed the rules they gave me because I am a rule follower. (In my earlier days I was not a rule follower, but now I am - don't give me grief.)  I made arrangements for all my children as we had to be out the door by 6:45 and over to the USO area at Camp Kim by 7AM.  I had kids going in 3 different directions, with us going in another. Our tour was to leave at 7:30AM.  At 7:15AM the lady behind the counter looked at me and told me I could not show my arms, what?!?!  I had on a sleeveless mock turtleneck, crap…ok, well they had a little jacket she gave me to cover my arms (because they are so HOT).  Then she looked at my feet and said oh no, no….you cannot show your toes.  My shoes were no go either.  They didn’t have shoes to fit my feet, plus I would have been a little repulsed to wear someone else’s shoes.  So, I had 15 minutes to make it home to change clothes and get back to Camp Kim.  She gave me an extra 5 minutes to make it 20.  That would have been great; I could have made it had it not been for rush hour traffic.  So, needless to say, I did not make the DMZ tour.  Hubby and his mom went without me, I would have had it no other way, and they had a great time.  I am including a picture from their tour.  I will go on the tour later in the month, as I had already paid for it and could not get a refund.  AND just for the record, I was dressed WAY NICER than anyone else on that DMZ tour.

The Seoul City Bus Tour is the way to go when you have guest in Seoul!   There are about 30 stops on  this tour, and there is NO WAY you can do it in one day.  The fee is only 10,000 won for the entire day & you can stop as many places as you would like.   We started our tour about 9:30am, and ended up taking the subway home later as we were having too much fun in Insadong to catch the last bus home at 7PM. 

The first stop on our tour was the Namsangol Traditional Korean Village. This village was beautiful as you can see by the pictures.  We spent about 1.5 hours here just roaming the grounds. This village is free of charge.

In 1994, 600 items that represent Seoul as a city and the life of its residents were sealed inside a time capsule in celebration of Seoul's 600th anniversary as the nation's capital.  It will be dug up and opened on November 29th, 2394 to celebrate the 1000th year anniversary. The time capsule is within the village walls.  Here are some pictures of the time capsule.

Here is a cool picture I took of some Lily Pads.

Our next stop was in Daehangno where we had lunch.  Daehongno is a college area with great shopping, from what they told us on the tour...we did not stay to shop as we were on a mission to tour the Palaces.

Next stop....Changgyeonggung (Palace).  Changgyeonggung was originally called Suganggung. It was built in 1418, but in 1592 during the Japanese invasion it was destroyed by fire.  In 1616 it was rebuilt. . This tour cost 1,000 won.  This palace is closed on Monday for anyone here in Seoul that is thinking about going. 

This next picture is of a taeshil, a stone container that holds the placenta of a prince.  Yes, you read that correctly.  This taeshil contains the placenta of King Seongjong and it was moved here to Seoul from Gyeonggi Province in 1930 for research because it is the best preserved of all the royal taeshil's

I thought these little old men were just too cute to pass up without taking a picture.  All the LOM were happy to let me take their picture, except for the one looking down.  He didn't want his picture taken.  Aren't they cute with their fans & their pants rolled up?

Next we stopped at Changdeokgung Palace.  This was my favorite of the 2 palaces and the village we visited.  Changdeokgung Palace is the most well preserved palace of the Choseon dynasty. This palace cost 3,000 won and you must go on a guided tour.  They have 3 tours a day in English, 11:30, 13:30 & 15:30. They also have tours in Korean, Japanese and Chinese.   Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this tour....

This picture has our tour guide in it.  She was adorable and spoke great English.

After we realized there was no way we could fit 3 more palaces in today, we made Insadong our last stop on the tour.  First we did a little street shopping, and then found a Starbucks......

And lastly we found a cute little tea house.  Oh how I LOVE this tea house. I got cinnamon - ginger tea.  Wow, it was fabulous, it tasted nothing like tea.  Grammy got some sort of apricot tea, which was wonderful as well. She thought it was a little too sweet, but I really don't think there is such a thing as too sweet.

After the tea house we hopped on the subway and headed for home, where we crashed for the evening!

Grammy arrived on Monday evening, I didn’t plan anything for Tuesday because normally the jet lag is a killer, but since she didn’t sleep well the night before she left, and didn’t sleep well on the plane she was ready for bed when she arrived, so on Tuesday she was ready to hit the town. Our first stop....you guessed it, the Flower Market in the Express Bus Terminal!

After spending a couple of hours in the flower market we headed underground where she experienced some of Korea's underground shopping.  Next we went into the mall (connected to the Express Bus Terminal via underground shopping and subway area).  Now this was quite the shocker, as the underground shopping is well, what you would expect, underground shopping, things laying on the floor, tons of stuff piled high, street food, and a little grungy, but when we stepped into the mall, it was like we entered a whole new world, where the floors sparkled and people greeted you.  Not to mention we stepped into the food court, which is unlike the food courts in the states, Koreans take pride in their food court.  Everything is displayed very nicely and the smells are amazing.   Below is a picture of the food court.

The next stop on our journey was Starbucks.  If you know Grammy, you know how much she LOVES her Starbucks..

Her first meal was at the food court, I know, not very traditional, but we were here & had 2 hungry little boys with us.  We ordered sushi, shrimp on a stick & some chicken strips.  Boy 3 was impressing Grammy with how well he uses chopsticks AND by how he eats sushi!

We went to the mall on Tuesday to show Grammy around and to check to see if we could find any pictures of the kids.  We found the Absorba store and these pictures of Boy 3!  The sales lady’s face was priceless when she realized the boy in the photo was the boy sitting on the counter.

While watching his brother at TKD, Boy 3 always participates on the side, doing whatever they are doing in class.  The Master has noticed him doing this, so on Monday the Master invited him to join the class.  Boy 3 was very excited and did very well.  As you can see his push-up form is much better than those beside him.  I’m afraid the Master might regret his decision to let Boy 3 join the class, as he will want to join in every time.  Their rules are you must be 5 years old to  participate  in TKD.