Seoul Tower & Locks of Love

After we had our first meeting with Wesley, we headed back to our hotel to change clothes and to have our first "outing." We headed down to the subway station, purchased our tickets and boarded our first train. I must say, these trains are much nicer than any other subway (or BART trains for those Bay Area friends & family) trains we have ever riden. We almost didn't want to get off because the cool A/C that was blasting was such a relief from the hot/humid air outside. We got off at our station and made our way to Seoul Tower.

Now, let me preface this by saying that we were following our guide book's instructions on how to get to Seoul Tower. We started on what looked like the right way to go, then suddenly we're in a residential area. I have no sense of direction, but yet I keep telling Brian, "this doesn't look right" which I'm sure is annoying the you-know-what out of him. Also keep in mind that it's 88 degrees outside with oh, I don't know 90% humidity. And, we're trecking uphill. Oh yeah and it's around 2pm and we haven't eaten. Perfect mix. We keep going. I'm not a sweater, other members of my family are, but I'm really not. I was soaked. Then all of the sudden we can see Seoul Tower and Brian says, "See! There it is." But, we need to be at the cable car (which is what they call it, but it's really a gondola) entrance to take us up to the tower. We keep walking. More sweat.

Somehow, we end up at the back entrance of the cable car loading area. What? Well, we're here. I have no idea how this happened, but we're here. We both looked like heck and smelled by the time we boarded the cable car with 20+ Koreans. Nice.

Here's the view from the car on the way up to the base of the tower. It was overcast so you can't see too much.

After we got off the cable car, we walked up a series of outdoor steps that headed to Namsan Park. There was a pavilion area with shops, restaurans and the Locks of Love display. This is a huge engagement spot. Couples come here with padlocks, put them on a section of the fence or one of the Love Trees and profess their enternal love for one another. After securing the lock, the key gets thrown over the side rail to symbolize that love. Adoptive couples now come as a sign of their love and committment to their children of Korea.

We put up a lock for Wesley. Here's Brian securing the lock.


Wesley's lock in place.


One small portion of the Locks of Love.


A young couple selecting a location on one of the Love Trees (I just thought this was cute).

It was time to go up in the tower. Like I said, it was a gloomy day so the views weren't as clear as we would've hoped but you can get the picture below. Seoul's population is approximately 10 million.

Wesley's birth city. They had different cities around the world posted on the glass of the tower and their distance from the tower.


A few from the tower looking out in Daejeon's direction.


After our journey to Seoul Tower, we went back to the hotel and decided to go back to the same area as the previous night but go to a different restaurant. Brian was craving pizza. For those of you that know my husband, he could eat pizza every night. We found a place that was Pizza & Pasta that was actually really good. Thin crust and their house wine was yummy. . . We walked around the streets surrounding our hotel afterward just to take it all in. We both love that there are TONS of people around. Here is a daytime shot of Seoul versus nightime. The energy is amazing.