It was a nice mellow weekend, spent outdoors soaking up the sun and the wonderful HOT summer weather of Seoul. Everyone is saying that the rain is about to come, perhaps tomorrow, and it will stay for over a month. Torrential flooding and lightening storms every day! Yikes! So we are making the most of the limited time we do have to roam around the city without umbrellas. This past weekend, for the second Saturday in a row we rented bikes for free from Songpa-gu office at Jamsil station. This time with Peeps along for the ride.
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| don't you just love Ryans pink cruiser? |
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| the bike paths are so nice, especially when they are not super crowded! |
We took a new route this time around, cruising through the city for a short while before arriving at Olympic park. in 1988 the summer olympics were held in Seoul. Huge structures were erected to hold the events, some of Seoul's proud landmarks to this day. There is a huge park that sits in the center of these arenas, really beautiful landscaping! It has some ponds and lots of fountains and a huge gate at the entrance. We rode around on the paths for a while, stopping to film some video here and there or take in the sights.
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| the gate at the entrance to Olympic Park |
After we'd seen enough of the park we headed to the Han river, to take advantage, yet again, of the excellent bicycle paths that run along either side of the huge waterway. This time we headed east, towards the edge of the city. We passed several inviting mini marts before selecting the perfect one for our afternoon lunch of kimbap, ramen, and kimchi. I love the food here! I will miss it when I leave, but I will be happy to have some of the comforts of the western diet back in my life too. And more than that the ability to know what is in my food and where it came from.... ah.... that'll be nice.
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| a good spot to stop for lunch... |
The Han river is massive. It is over a kilometer wide throughout the city and is crossed by 27 bridges! The bridges are fascinating, each is so different, some have fountains off the sides, some light up at night, some have multi layers or train tracks below. All are BIG! And full of traffic 24/7. As I said before we rode east... away from the most populated center of the city and well, it looks like soon the bridge count will rise! There is construction underway for two new bridges. It looks so eerie, and I don't know why, because it's just a bunch of cement... anyway, the guys agreed that it looked creepy, so I guess I'm not alone.
And speaking of the olympics- they made a new bridge to cross over right at the location of the new arenas and the park. It is aptly named "olympic bridge" and has a giant torch on the top of it!
The sun and the exercise had us all thoroughly exhausted and not up for much that evening. There were some things going on... a homebrew fest in Habongchon, some dinner options and of course there are bars and restaurants all over the place. But we opted to end the afternoon on a nice patio in a random parking lot. This lady was serving beer and small plates of food from some makeshift mobile unit, there was shade, chairs and no traffic. Perfect. So that concluded our day in the sun, only to wake up the next day and have another... this time up at namsan with Nathan playing card games and dice and chess! Not too bad. I really feel that I have had to become a weekend warrior, being as we work the dreadful monday to friday, nine to five. But it's not so bad I guess.... I get so much more done, and my body is healthier when I am up early in the morning.
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Someone sent this picture to Josh, it must have been taken over seven years ago! Look how young we are! It's awesome to have this picture, from when we were just buddies...
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| from the Dude Ranch, circa 2004-2005, we look so different! But I still have that sweater and Josh still has that shirt... some things never change. But my taste in beer sure has! |
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