Week 13 in Korea: Namsan Tower and Fall Foliage (October 24-30, 2023)

 

Namsan Tower (North Seoul Tower) lit up under a full moon
This week the big tourist event was a trip to Namsan Tower and the Hanok Village at the foot of the mountain. It was perfect fall weather...cool but sunny, leaves in all hues, and my small traveling party and I decided to take full advantage of the day. 
First, we stopped at a vegetarian restaurant in Itaewon called Plant. I had the macaroni and cheese, and Phoebe (the vegetarian in the party) had the hummus and pumpkin salad. We all shared the chocolate biscoff cheesecake. It was very good food! This is where vegetarians who visit Korea can be assured of finding something wonderful to eat. 
  
After fortification (and a bus ride that lasted about an hour) we arrived at Namsangol Hanok Village. This village is made up of five Joseon Era homes (of nobles) that were moved to the current location to create a cultural park. The video covers a lot of the details of the village. We enjoyed the views. We also saw the Seoul Time Capsule (set to be opened in 2394 on the 1000th anniversary of the city, and created in 1994 on the 600th anniversary). I have no idea what is inside but it was an impressive thing to look at. Somehow I did not take a video of that. I thought I had taken one but I suspect I accidentally deleted it. 
  
Of course we had beautiful views of the tower, the fall foliage, and all kinds of park features. Since none of us had ever been here before we wandered and chatted and took lots of photos. 

North Seoul Tower was built between 1969 and 1971. It is 777 feet tall (which basically is also the height of Namsan mountain) and it has a lot of observation decks. It is also the broadcasting tower for lots of stations (radio and TV). 

We took the cable car up to the first plaza and wandered around. The line for the cable car was about an hour long. Our long line snaked through a building with tall windows, so we watched the sun set and the full moon rise. It was just getting to be fully dark as we got into the cable car. We adopted a fourth American (a woman from New York who was traveling solo) into our party and wandered around the tower plaza together. We had dinner at The Place (an Italian restaurant). 



These two photos really capture the beauty of the day. Fall foliage at its finest (we took a pedestrian path along the north side of the mountain to get from the Hanok Village to the Cable Car) and the magnetic beauty of the tower. I will definitely go back. Probably many times. Hopefully many times. 

Other things that happened this week: I went to the dentist (thanks to Hailie for making the appointment for me and then coming along to translate!) I took Hailie to dinner afterwards at a restaurant in Wyrie. We had steak, salad, and pasta. It was Awesome (that happens to be the name of the restaurant...). 

We also had yearbook pictures this week. I got all gussied up but when I showed up at the yearbook station they turned me away (I want to say I wasn't pretty enough to be in the yearbook, but the truth was I got there early for the faculty slot and the guy in charge of the schedule was inflexible). So I am not going to be in the yearbook this year. I am not sad about this. But I took a nice selfie as a consolation. 
The marigolds in front of the school have been in riotous bloom. I am greeted daily by their scent and happy blossoms. Dia de los Muertos is not really celebrated here. But there are marigolds everywhere. 
Here is the link to this week's video: https://youtu.be/7iMaxLVlsd0
I am working all weekend at the SEOMUN conference put on by my Model United Nations club next weekend. I might post. We will see. But I think Nimmi and I are going to do a walk at Olympic Park this week so more fall foliage may be in my very happy future!
I hope your fall is glorious too!
And one final picture of the enchanting tower...


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