Seoul Through My Eyes - Day 1

Let me start this post by saying it rained ALL day today! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a little rain here and there, but seriously....we're trying to sight see here. That said, the city does not stop because of rain. Let me paint a picture for you. TONS of people EVERYWHERE walking the streets with their umbrellas, and women in their skirts and high heels. Yep, that's how it is here. These are not t-shirt and jeans sort of girls. Not that I always am, but hey, comfort comes first when I'm walking for eight hours. And, I am totally convinced that there is no respect for personal space here. Then add an umbrella into the mix. Those things are dangerous! Are you getting my picture? For those of you that know me, you know that I NEED my personal space. You know that imaginary circle around you that divides you from others? Doesn't exist here. LOL! I just had to share because it really was entertaining. I did good.

I'd say we had a pretty productive day today.  I was able to mark two things off of my "to-do" list. Yaay! First, I really wanted to see the Cheonggyecheon stream, and we made it there with no problems. Five minute walk from our hotel. It's about a 3.6 mile walk along a stream that is about 15ft below street level. It was a really nice to walk. However, it did start raining pretty hard while we were there and they requested (over a loud speaker) that everyone leave the stream at the nearest exit. OK, I guess we're done there. I put pictures below.

Second on the list, Insadong Market. Wanted to try a couple different food places and do some shopping. Let me preface this by saying my lovely husband and I have always joked about signing up for the Amazing Race (TV show), however, have not actually agreed that we'd enter together. I don't think he trusts that I'll remain calm under pressure (and he's probably right). Back to Insadong....the first goal was to find the place. I don't know if we are completely retarded over here in Seoul, or what, but finding this dang area was a major journey. Holy Cow. Totally would have lost Amazing Race if this was the task. Went to the subway... never took the subway. Exited the subway....went to the wrong place. Not looking so good. Decided to sit down and take a breather and recompose ourselves (I'm seriously annoyed by now...how hard can it be to find this place?!?) and FINALLY found a sign that actually labeled "Insadong" as a real life place (hadn't been able to find it before that). We headed in a new direction (in the rain) and found Insadong Market. Whoooa....this place is insane! People, EVERYWHERE. And don't forget about the cars and motorcycles that will seriously run your @*! over if you don't move out of their way. Oh boy.....this is bit overwhelming for me, but I can do it! At least this is what I told myself. =) So we walked up and down the main alley and then up and down a lot of the side alley ways. We were searching for two specific food places recommended by fellow bloggers and I am really embarrassed to say we never found them! Really? I just walked around in total chaos for 3 hours to find nothing? Mind you, we hadn't eaten since 7am and it's now close to 5pm, so we we're hungry, dehydrated, and I was getting very grouchy! We finally decided to leave, with tail between our legs in total defeat without any food or fun gifts. How lame! We're definitely going back before we leave to give it another go around. Thinking during the week so it won’t be as crowded. Blogger friends Kelly and Michelle, can you help us find the dumpling place and the Chop Shop for name stamp? I found a couple stamp places but didn't know which one was the right one??
We ended the night by heading back to our hotel to take advantage of our "club member" happy hour. Had a couple of drinks, grabbed a Panini and a club sandwich and now we're back in our room. Kasey's asleep and I'm writing this post as I listen to a live concert that's going on just across the street. Pretty cool.

Here are some pictures of Seoul through our eyes on day one of our journey.