Backtracks: Adventures in Seoul with Rochelle

Seoul Grand Park (Seoul Zoo) - 9 June 2012

We went here for one of our first dates. As two people who love exploring new places, this seemed a natural destination. This was the best trip to a zoo since Zoo A La Carte with Mike and his family in Milwaukee last year. The word grand is an understatement here! We walked for hours and still didn't see everything, so we're going to come back again later. The zoo has every big animal can name and a few more. We saw rhinos, deer, and a bunch of pheasants. The pheasants get special mention because we learned that Korea has a native species of pheasant; we had no idea about it. If you want to come here, plan on doing plenty of walking. The place sprawls upon acres and acres. 

Ticket costs are damned reasonable, too: 3,000won. What's more, you can bring your own beer into the place! They have Family Marts outside and inside the zoo grounds, so that's a great deal. It knocks me out because the Milwaukee County Zoo charges at least $15 per person and doesn't allow you to drink on the zoo grounds. I don't mean to play up the alcohol too much, for it's just something I've noticed over here. There were no stumbling sloppy drunks at the zoo when we went. We only saw people hanging around sipping beers in the many picnic areas scattered about the place.

Namsan Tower, 23 June 2012

At Namsan Tower's "Locks of Love" art exhibit. We didn't go up into the observation deck, but we did get a good look around the place. It's a popular place for Koreans and tourists alike. You can see the actual locks below:

The wall of locks stretches on for much further than you can see here. Many Korean couples buy a lock and come here to attach it to the wall. The lock represents their love. Couples do it for lots of reasons. See this page for some more about this unique installation.

Taken at General Rabbit's Big Mug coffee shop near her neighborhood. We went there for smoothies to cap off the night after we'd done the tower and had eaten dinner with friends. The painting of a disco dancing military hare looked too good begged to have its picture taken.