Many of our holidays have coincidentally included visits to Olympic venues, so, continuing the tradition we took the subway out to Seoul Olympic Park, picking up a T-Card at the nearby CU store. This card gives you cheaper travel on the metro, behaving much like an Oyster card in London.
Walked through the park, stopping for refreshments on the way and spotting the venues for Olympic events like tennis, cycling etc.
End up at the Peace Park, still flying the original flags of attending countries, like East and West Germany and the USSR.
The Olympic flame still burns for peace and there was a new tribute to the recent Winter Games.
Then a short walk up to Lotte World where the recently opened Lotte World Tower beckoned us to enjoy the Sky Deck. The ear popping lift whisks you up to the 117th floor, then you walk around enjoying the view, then take an escalator up to the next floor, then take the view, outdoors too, before finally reaching the highest floor. Good views despite the average weather.
Deciding to avoid the humid weather, we took the subway along to Co-Ex Mall, here we discovered a massive library and reading room and also found ourselves a bite to eat. While looking out for the metro stop back to our guesthouse we bumped in to the Gangnam Style Hands monument.
On the way back to our guesthouse we bumped in to an old Korean guy, on his way to a friends 80th birthday party, we chatted to him most of the way back. He was bemused as to why we would actually want to come and visit South Korea.
After a quick siesta, we popped out to find a spot of tea in Insadong. While looking at a vegetarian restaurant we found a tea shop recommended in several travel blogs, Moon Bird Does Only Think Of The Moon, a quirky place packed full of ‘stuff’ with nooks and crannies containing small intimate tables and chairs. Choosing a couple of teas we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere, spotting oddities scattered around the cafe. Our teas arrived along with a plate of little snacks. Glad we found it as it was a delight to while away some time drinking tea.
mrandmrsyoung 