bridge over the river Han and 1988 summer olympics

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. 

don't you just love Ryans pink cruiser? 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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...

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! 

highlights of Seoul

Summer is here, in full swing and it is HOT! And it is only going to get hotter, and more humid. For the first time in my life I have air conditioning and I am glad for that. We live on the third and top floor of our apartment building and, well that will be nice in the winter, but it's already like an oven in there. So to try and beat the heat the other day we rented bicycles and headed to the river. At Jamsil station, between exits 1 and 2 there is a shop that rents bicycles for free for the whole day! It was super easy, and somewhat conveniently easy to get to from our neighborhood. So we got our rickety cruisers, both too small for us, and dangerously made our way through Seoul traffic before reaching the amazing bike path that lines either side of the enormous Han river.

  

the path was far removed from the traffic of the city as we rode about six kilometers on one side, and under maybe eight bridges before crossing the river and heading back along the other side. There were lots of other cyclists and fishermen posted up in the shade under most of the bridges. Some kids were beating the heat by playing in a huge water fountain and we even found a rose garden in full bloom. It felt like a slice of Portland when I spotted a bum under the bridge. We stopped frequently to cool off in some shade or to have our simple lunch of kimbap and ramen at a mini mart. We saw some cool things along the way so I'll give you a glimpse into our sights, and I'll add a few other photos from our daily adventures around Seoul. 

a floating buddhist temple

Namsan tower and the Iteawon neighborhood, from across the river.

this is the Ttukseom bridge and overpass. This is massive! As with, well... most things in this city. I think that the combination of the huge loop and the odd building, with the apartment high rises in the back it looks like something out of a science fiction movie.

this is one of the main temples in Seoul, takes a few weeks ago when we were out walking around in the northern part of the city. 

taken at the war museum, we went on a random monday off and they were closed but we were able to roam around the grounds, free of many other people. There were scores of aircraft carriers and tanks and statues created to remember the many wars that Korea has been in over it's history. 

In the Hongdae neighborhood. This is some street art that Josh captured at an old abandoned home. They are doing some crazy demolition along a few blocks to make a new and fancy subway station. This too will soon be gone. 

Also in the Hongdae neighborhood, a bright window into a cafe..

  

(above) this is in our neighborhood, we often use this subway station, and the street is one of the busiest in Seoul. Traffic is so crazy on this road. The buildings that line the street have cool design, ahh... the concrete jungle! 

this is my new shirt that I got for about four bucks on the side of the street. I read it and I just had to get it, because it makes NO SENSE! This kind of messed up english is found everywhere.
It reads: "on a nice holyday 'divas CUTE' 'when I happened is everything ok' LOOKED elevator looks nearly killed me. getting sociated." 

This is from our trip to the east coast a few weeks ago, not sure what it is, or why it sits in solitude on the beautiful beach, but it caught my eye none the less!

a beautiful sunset over the lake. I love these mirror shots!