Korea 2013: day 7-8

Day 7: shopping in Seoul!
We spent most of the day shopping in Insa-dong. This area is full of shops and kiosks selling pottery, souvenirs and food. On Sundays the streets are closed to traffic which makes shopping easier! We stopped at a tea house and shared this large bowl of tea. It was iced, fruity and floral, very refreshing!

After taking a rest from a hard day of shopping, we headed back out to visit N Seoul Tower (picture below). The tower is located on a mountain (Mt. Nam) so I hiked a mountain! Well we hiked a bit of it and took the cable car most of the way. The long lines were killer and it was really crowded . But the view was worth it (kind of :) ). Seoul is beautiful at night, so many lights. When we got to the top of the mountain, we ate at the Italian restaurant there. Not too bad, the risotto was really white rice in gorgonzola cream sauce. The cream sauce was super tasty!

Day 8: more shopping
We were sleeping in today! Finally made it out if the hotel for lunch. Um, we ate pizza. Always a good base for shopping! In the Sinchon neighborhood, where we are staying, there are back alleys filled with stores, fun to shop around. We then hopped the subway (have I mentioned how awesome the subway is here!? So easy to figure out, will bring you anywhere) and went to the Namdaemun market (picture below). It has over 10,000 stores. Oh.my.god! So many stores! But in the end it seems like there are only 5 different types of stores. Still, really amazing to see.

For dinner we meet up with another friend of a friend. A coworker of mine has a friend going to school here, so we meet him in one of the university areas, Hyewha. Such a cute area! We ate at a traditional Korean restaurant, shoes off, sit on the floor. Really good, purple rice, tons of sides and egg soup. Then we went to a beer mart. It was like being at an American bar, except you go to the beer coolers and get your own beer. Then as you drink you put the empty bottles in a bucket that you bring to the cash wrap at the end to pay. Fun!