감사합니다 한국

At the top of the drive, just right of the bike, at the blue spot, is the door to Grandpa and Grandma's apartment. Then up three flights of marble steps...
I can tell exactly where we are. Let me at those streets!

Hmm, tempted to buy something...Pocari Sweat, anyone?

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the yummy treat Dad bought me, or the fish pastry that Heidi bought. The sweets were filled with a sweet bean filling. I also don't have any pictures of the food that we ate. (Mom, can you include photos of the shabu shabu? Or people can type that in their google window. It was delicious!)
This is a picture of one of the shopping districts. I loved walking up and down the streets, rounding corners into identical streets, into alleyways, into other streets... It's a good thing I was not alone. I would have been hopelessly lost in 30 seconds.
Dad did most of the heavy lifting. I used the excuse that Hannah was entertaining Dad while waiting for us to get our shopping done :) What do you want? Anything can be found in one of these shops...If we just look long and hard enough.
What! Is this heaven?
This is our $12.oo piece of dragonfruit. It was definitely easier to spend in won than it would have been otherwise. I'm glad we tried it. The fruit inside was very delicious. And the outside was just beautiful. Who wouldn't want to eat this?
This is King Sejong the Great who developed the Korean Hangul alphabet. He developed it as the alphabet for the common people. He was very concerned about literacy for his people and even encouraged women to learn to read. I think that he is one of my favorite Koreans. The realization of this alphabet is celebrated every year on October 9. I'll be celebrating myself. What books should I choose? Maybe one of those from that Korean bookstore?
A picture of Korea at night. The rest of Seoul might not sleep, but we were always pretty worn at in the evening. I think we were in bed by 10 every night. I did try to peek out the window one night, but the condensation on the glass made it hard to see out :)
This is the picture of OUR bus. It took us back to Grandpa and Grandma's apartment and picked us up in the morning.

We actually had several buses, some subways, a taxi or two, and some feet :) We got around Korea in style. Hannah even considers herself an expert at bus riding. She liked to reach up and hold onto the bars.
This is one of the turns down one of the alleys to get to our apartment. I was surprised at how safe I felt walking around down dark alleys at night in the middle of Seoul.
Here you can see the enormous TV mounted on the side of the building. BTW, I couldn't understand any of the conversations that were being carried on around us. Heidi and I agreed that it was sort of soothing. I think the sound of people speaking Korean is beautiful.
This is one example of creative architecture. There were really fantastic looking buildings all over Seoul. And I loved how very old buildings were all mixed in with very new buildings. We saw one example
Just a wonderful view of people, tall buildings and Korean writing. I can almost imagine being there again. I wish I had a great picture of the yellow Ginko leaves all over the sidewalks.

Oh, where, oh, where are my photos of the temple in Seoul? Hannah sitting in plants? No pictures here of the Korean folk village? And nothing about the palace that we visited? What about the Korean National Museum? I don't know what to say... I have memories, but no pictures. :(

So sad to be leaving Korea. The sights, the tastes, the smells, the friends...

Well, not sure how this ended up at the end, but here is : The Changing of the Guard. Well, maybe it'll work... Hmm :( It was really neat. The costumes, the music and the great big drum. I loved the flags and the solemn faces. And I loved the restaurant just across the street and down some stairs :)