Seoul Train

I am sure that I'm not the first to use this pun for the name of South Korea's capitol city, nor will I be the last. However, we did have a great time in Seoul, starting with riding the Seoul train! The Koreans recently opened a high speed train from Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station, and apparently it has not had the ridership they expected. We were the ONLY ones on our train car, and four of the very few passengers on the whole train. On the way back to the airport, I think we really were the only ones. It was very nice! It even has internet connectivity and charging ports - quite convenient.

We stayed at the Seoul Millennium Hilton, which was very nice and had a great swimming pool/jacuzzi that the girls loved. They also provided free breakfast, so we basically loaded up on Feb 2 (Chinese New Year, which the Koreans DO celebrate, but fortunately the tourist sights were still open) and went out for our one day of touring Seoul.

We started by walking to Gyeongbokgung Palace, the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces in Seoul. We watched the changing of the guards and stayed to observe several people decide that Magdalena was a more worthwhile photo op than the colorfully decorated actors! After that, we meandered through the Bukchon Hanok Village where traditional Korean houses have been preserved - it was very picturesque. We picked up some snacks at a local convenience store and noticed that the Korean version of Digestives (which we eat here in China as well) are about 30% cheaper than they are even here in China, and kicked ourselves later for not buying a ton as we couldn't find them again after checking in at the airport. Ah well.

Next we went to the 2:30 English tour of Changdeokgung Palace, built in 1405 as a secondary palace, it became the principal palace in the 1590s after the Japanese destroyed the afore-visited Gyeongbokgung, and served thusly until 1896. But the tour guide said that it was used as recently as 1989. I'm not quite sure who used it, though, as the original Korean dynasty ended in 1910 with the Japanese invasion/annexation of Korea.

Finally, we walked back to the hotel and hit the pool. The next morning we were up and out early to get back to Incheon to catch our plane to Tokyo! Short but sweet, we very much enjoyed our time in Seoul, South Korea - country #4 for Lucia and Magdalena, and the first Asian country outside of China that Alex and I have visited since arriving here last March!


Here we are riding the Seoul Train into town our first day there:

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Getting ready for the day - though it ended up being well above freezing, and the girls didn't really need the hats after we took this picture:

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Changing of the guards at Gyeongbokgung Palace:

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Magdalena enjoyed walking up and down this step MANY times:

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I guess I can't blame all the people who took her photo, she is just so darn cute! This was one of at least five:

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A rare family photo that we forced some poor Korean teenager to take for us at the Bukchon Hanok Village:

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Outside Changdeokgung Palace before our tour - Magdalena had fallen asleep in the stroller by this time:

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Here is the Main Street of Seoul City:

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Lucia was sleeping as we walked back to the hotel through a busy square with people ice skating!

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And our girls after swimming and getting ready for bed - reading books despite the digi player on in front of them (our attempt to pacify them so we could eat our take-out meal at our little coffee table in the room!). Gotta love that they prefer to read rather than watch movies. :-)

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Next up - I'll try to get our Tokyo trip post up soon!