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!

Korea 2013: day 5-6

Day 5: explore Busan
First, I need to address our toilet here at the hotel. There are so many buttons and I only understand a few of them! I must say, the button with the face on it scares me the most. I don't want to press it. And then I realize this is something you probably don't discuss, but I never read anything about this while researching and only found out days before I was leaving, but you don't flush toilet paper here. They have the fanciest toilets around (picture below), but culturally it is just something you don't do. It is hard to retrain oneself to remember this!

This morning we started late. We headed down to the beach and hiked along it a bit. Gorgeous scenery. And nice walking paths. We didn't really have breakfast so it was time to get food. Always a bit of struggle. We just start to wander and hope we find a posted menu with some English on it. And we did! I got a spicy tofu stew...with mussels. But I could just pick around them since they were still in the shell and it was full of tofu, not the biggest fail. It was really good. So glad I got a seafood allergy test before I left!

Then we caught a taxi to visit Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (picture below). A buddhist temple right on the beach. It was really beautiful. Some people were there to worship, some just to tour. We got some grape ice cream and sat on the beach rocks and just enjoyed the sun.

Dinner time came soon enough and we were craving pasta. It is nice that there are so many food choices. Love Korean food, but I couldn't eat any food every day of the week. So we googled a nearby Italian restaurant and headed out only to discover it was closed (explanation in Korean) so then we returned to our main strip where there 2 other pasta places. We picked the one with people in it, always a good sign! I gotta say, some of the best pasta I have had!

Lots of people were on the beach enjoying the pleasant evening weather and listening to the guitarists play on the boardwalk,  so we did the same!

Day 6: travel back to Seoul
Time to repack! I was ok saying good-bye to our Busan hotel. While it was nice to have a large bathroom, the decor was really outdated and wifi didn't work in the room (which is disappointing cuz everywhere you can get free wifi, even in the beach). Although it was a great location, a block from the beach. We needed lunch before we left so we started walking! After a few failed attempts at finding a readable menu we came across a Chinese restaurant. I ordered the noodles in black bean sauce with green peppers. Turns out the green pepper was jalapeno and it was crammed full of seafood (again, glad I got that seafood test!). Plus the noodles were just not that good, way too chewy (and Rachel said the squid was chewy too). Not the best lunch, but I have failed lunches at home too!!

We cabbed it to Busan station where you catch the express train to Seoul. It was really busy for a mid-Saturday afternoon! After taking time to get a donut for the trip, we only had to wait 1 minute til we could board. Oh and donuts here...not as sweet. The honey dripped on my donut was the sweet part. The train ride is a pleasant one, nice to stretch out just sit back and relax.

Arrived in Seoul and checked into our final hotel of the lag. After a minute or two pause to freshen up it was time to go on the hunt for food. We ended up making a big circle and eating right across from the hotel! I got a tofu dish (no seafood! ) and loved it. We spent hours after dinner walking and shopping. It was 11 at night when we returned to the room and no shops were even closing, crazy!

Korea 2013: day 3-4

Day 3: explore Seoul
Had breakfast on the rooftop garden of our hostel today. Beautiful sunny morning! Then we started out early to visit gyeongbokgung palace (picture below). The palace grounds are huge with beautiful mountain scenery behind them. We had a group of 13 year old boys very excited for us to take a picture with them. Um, sure! We spent the rest of the morning wandering the grounds til lunch called. 

We traveled to a small neighborhood, close to the palace and found another restaurant with pictures and some English descriptions. Very helpful! Plus, it looked busy. So we walked in and realized it was maybe more traditional? We had to take our shoes off and sit on the ground. My body is not use to sitting cross legged for that long! But it was real good! I ordered a red bean gruel with dumplings. Yum! The server wanted me to add sugar to it, but I liked it better salted, so I tried to slyly swap it our when they weren't looking.

We returned to the room for a break and to figure out evening plans. We were meeting a friend of a friend for dinner. She had us meet her a Hanjeongsik restaurant, it serves a full-course korean traditional meal with an array of savory side dishes. It was amazing! But I really can't understand these portion sizes over here (picture below). We sat down at the table and they rolled over a table top that slipped over the table top in front of us. The entire table was FILLED with food. I ate and ate til I could eat no more and there was so much left, I felt bad! We also ordered an earthen jar of rice wine that you scoop with a big wooden spoon into a smaller cup. Super good! Our new friend, Annie, then brought us to Gangnum where we ordered another jar of rice wine. Most bars require you order food with drinks so we had to order more food! We got an egg dish that we could share, it was really good too but I didn't need more food! Gangnum was amazing to see at night, vibrant neon lights, similar to New York's times square, but still different.

Day 4: travel to Busan
This morning started rainy in Seoul. We took our time having breakfast and repacking the suitcases, it was time to check out of studio 41st. This hotel was wonderful and served us well, the staff was super friendly/helpful and amazing accommodations (kitchen, laundry and a computer in the room), but we were off to Busan! For lunch we just picked up a sandwich at Paris baguette (pastry shops found all over the place) and made our way to Seoul station, a main hub. We were taking the express train. If you ever find yourself doing the same, get the first class seat for sure. It isn't that much more and is so worth it, you are on the train for 2.5 hours. But the free wifi helps the time past!

We headed to the taxi stand after exciting the train and even though we had the hotel address in Korean we did not end up at our hotel. The cab driver got us to the general area but dumped us at a really posh hotel. I figured that would be ok cuz they'd have a concierge that could help and they did! The guy got us a new cab and told the driver exactly where to go and we made it!

There seems to be a lot less English signage here and just from being tired and needing a break from Koran food we ended up at the most American place they probably have here, a tapas bar. I gotta say, the food was tasty! Afterwards we walked around a bit and then stopped for some Turkish ice cream. Tomorrow we really check Busan out!

Korea 2013: day 2

Day 2: explore Seoul

Started the morning in the common room of the hostel, fried some eggs (mine had a double yolk, must be good luck!), had some coffee and talked to the 2 friendly girls at the front desk. We decided we'd hit 2 palaces today so off to the subway we go!

The first palace was Changdeokgung we went on the Secret Garden tour. There were still a few cherry blossoms on the trees but we also caught a "rain" storm of falling leaves. Picture more of a special grounds area for royals than like an area filled with exotic flowers. There are many gazebos and path ways, a very private and peaceful area.
Picture below.

Lunch time! Rachel spotted this porridge place (dishes explained in English) so we thought that would be best!  I had the vegetable cheese porridge, perfect for a rainy day! Again though, so much food! But everyone in the restaurant was ordering their own bowls so we just went with it. The porridge came with side dishes, like Kim chi, a side of beef and something else like kimchi...after I ate it, discovered it was squid. Oops. Picture below.

We then went to deoksugung, which is the most urban palace, in the heart of the city. Temple structures stand with electronic billboards in the background. we had hoped to see the changing of the guard ceremony, but due to the rain they canceled it. So we decided to start shopping. We went to Insa-dong, which is lined with shops. Every other shop has got to be a skin shop, which explains why Koreans have such perfect skin! And you better believe we stopped at several of them (I am wearing a honey face mask right now as I type this!).

The rainy weather was starting to wear on us, not to mention all the walking. So it was time for a break, we headed back to the hotel where we stopped at a GS25 (maybe similar to a CVS back home) and bought a ton of snacks to try. We sampled them all but decided we better figure out dinner before we gorge on corn chips and caramel corn!

The guy at the front desk did some research and thought we'd really like Tara Jumak, a makgeolli pub (traditional rice wine). It was an experience! The chairs were decorated special for us (as if we couldn't stand out even more)! And the menu was 100% Korean. But the owner was Finnish and could communicate with us. I got an onion fried Pancake, along with all the sides, good stuff!

Korea 2013: day 0-1

Day 0: travel
Minneapolis to Chicago - flight was on time and smooth. Love that flight, you take off, get a drink and descend. Over and done before you know it! Then we disembark and experience total blondness. I really dislike the O'hare airport. Plus, no restaurants in the international terminal? I don't get it. Thankfully we didn't have a long layover (<3 hrs). Once on the plane, it was only a short time and I had a complimentary glass of wine, slippers and movie playing. Ah...vacation!
 
Lunch/dinner (not sure what meal of the day it was!) was fun, assemble your own Bi-bim-bab (picture below). Dozing, movies and whining about the flight length was the rest of the flight. With about 2.5 hrs to go all the kids on the flight started to have melt downs, it was deafening, they were expressing how we all felt though. Total flight time: 13 hrs 28 mins. Ugh.

Day 1: check-in at first hotel
We got off the plane, had some tense minutes wondering if I'd ever see my luggage again, and then found the airport railroad. One of the exits brought us within a 10 minute walk of our hotel. The folks at the hotel are super nice and very welcoming. By the time we got to our room (with its super fancy unlocking keypad) we were crashing, but wanted some dinner, at the end of the block was a very American place, called h. Salads, pizza, sandwiches. I didn't really care, just wanted a quick dinner and then off to bed! However we did have one glitch the restaurant...turns out the $12 salad  was more like a salad for 2 (or 3) people. Both Rachel and I just about died when we saw the salad size put down in front of us! Oh well. Don't think that's the end of a confusing dinner order! :)

MN Wine Trip, May 2012

Wine trip #5! This means we had to return to a quadrant of the state we have been to in the past. The great thing about MN is that there are hidden surprises in the hundreds of small towns scattered about, so no route will be a repeat! We traveled Southwest, which meant Faribault for lunch and a bit of shopping. Fantastic lunch at Cheese Cave! We even tried to get our server to come with us on the rest of the trip, he was super! Then we had the typical antique shopping and wandering. Faribault was much cuter than expected!

Time to check in to our hotel for the night. It was in the tiny town of St Clair, MN. The lodging for the night... an old church, Bell Tower Suites! Figured it was about time to stay in a joint that was originally created to worship the dude that turned water into wine! Plus, we have already stayed in a jail and a castle, a church was next logical choice. It was pretty amazing. 1400 square feet and stain glass filling the entire wall in the living room. We hung out a bit but it was time to hit our first winery, Indian Island Winery! They had a small restaurant that served burgers and wine, all a girl needs. This place is quite a compound! Large structure in the middle of farm land, wish the weather was better cuz the patio looked awesome. Thankfully they had live music inside to entertain us! And I couldn't get over it. White dude on the steel drums. How do you pick that up living in farm land?? Anyways, he was great!

Time to return to the church to pray. I mean play games and drink too much. :) Morning came quick and it was time to pack it up and head to the antique mecca in the area, Jordan MN. While we were shopping the storms started to brew, so we took cover in a coffee shop/diner/antique store. I think we hung out here for hours. Finally we could kill no more time, time to brave the storm and head to winery #2, Crofut. Now we had troubles with this winery the first time round in 2009, in that I didn't read their hours posted so we couldn't stop at the designated itinerary time. This time it was going to happen! Um, or not. We arrived to find a note on the door: Closed due to weather. Are you kidding me? It was raining. Sigh. Again, not meant to be. Nothing really left to do in this wet and dreary weather but to head to Chaksa. Our stop for the night.

So yes, Chaksa might be only 45 minutes out of the cities but that requires an overnight stay! Don't worry about it. We all put 2 and 2 together and realized it was Cinco de Mayo. So we had to dine at a Mexican restaurant! Turns out there was a brand new one in town that just opened. Perfect! Or not ... New wait staff,  new systems, busiest night of the year meant we waited 45 minutes just for a bill, then even longer to pay. Ugh. But we finally got out of there and trekked it to the wine shop down the road, Dolce Vita Wine Shop. Now, we had it on good authority that we'd love the place, but I didn't realize I'd love it that much! Super service, guy really knew his stuff, gave us all wine tastings and they have a super chiller that will chill a bottle of wine in minutes, cool thing! Time to return to the Best Western! Gotta give some praise to this joint, great price and underground parking (helpful when the storm hit at 2am).

Morning came and it was not sunny. The storm was still hanging around so no one wanted to stick with the original plan and tour Arboretum. Instead we played mini golf! Fun course. We worked up an appetite and headed to Lions Tap for lunch. 

**Bonus wine trip! Due to a schedule change we weren't able to stay at this B&B during wine weekend  but I didn't want to cancel our reservation. And am so glad I didn't! Turns out Belle Plaine doesn't have much entertainment besides bars, but the hidden gem is The Rectory! Before we could check in we had some time to kill. First brunch at Cindy's Kitchen. Yummy - real cooking. It was still a bit early for drinks so we hit the local thrift store and I rediscovered my love for bubble gum ice cream. OK! Now it was acceptable to hit the bars. Lots of townie bars, the no windows kind so it was hard to know what we were going to get into. But we found the cutest one! Huck's Shipwreck Saloon. Recently remodeled with murals and the full shipwreck theme. Super cute and clean!

After an afternoon drink, it was time to check in. We had a very thorough tour of the old rectory and learned all about the history from our wonderful hosts for the night. We then sat in the game room and played games with we munched on the wonderful cheese plate and sipped wine. Then it was dinner time, back to the townie bars! We heard the food at Johan's was good and I won't deny that, however the atmosphere was not like our earlier place. Things really got lively when the homemade pole dancing stage was assembled. Yikes. We retreated to our peaceful B&B for the night!


The next morning we started the day with the most amazing breakfast. It was course after course of deliciousness. Scones, poached peaches, stuffed french toast - all homemade. Times like this I wish my stomach was 10000 times bigger. I was sad to leave. But we were going to a winery so not too sad. :) on the earlier wine trip we stumbled upon a brand new winery that wasn't open yet, but by this weekend it was! Chankaska. Not a huge fan of the name. But the grounds are amazing, it is quite a winery. The workers actually understand the wine they are serving and are quite knowledgeable - great experience. 

Oh and I have to mention... there is one tourist attraction in Belle Plaine. The 2 story outhouse. You can't tour the inside, but you can get a good idea from the outside!

Boston Trip: September 25-29, 2011

Mother-Daughter Trip! I will admit, I was worried when 2 days before we left my mom presented me purse. But not just any old purse - it was a coordinating purse. It coordinated with her purse!!! It was the kid-size version of the one she bought for herself. :) But this was a mother-daughter trip so it fit the theme! Plus I was happy to have a new purse! ;)

Day 0

Evening airline ride to Boston, hopped a cab and got to the hotel (Westin Waterfront) to have a late dinner at the hotel's restaurant, MJ O’Connor’s. It was an Irish pub that played top 40s music – a pet peeve of mine. The hotel room had a decent view of the harbor, but no washcloths for the entire stay – I guess that was our trade off.

Day 1

We were able to get up and start the morning in Boston fresh and ready for some sight-seeing. The hotel concierge recommended the Upper Deck trolley tours and that turned out to be a great tour for us. Padded seats, entertaining tour guides and easy to spot buses painted bright green and yellow. We traveled the route until we got to stop 7, the start of the Freedom Trail. But before we could start that we needed lunch, I spotted an alley that looked interesting and it had a restaurant tucked into it, Sweetwater Tavern. Great good and super yummy sweet potato fries. We then entered Boston Commons to walk to the beginning and first site of the Trail, The State House.

Then we saw it all: King’s Chapel and burying ground, Boston City Hall, Old South Church, Old State House (where we stopped for a tour to hear more about the Boston massacre) and that is where we stopped for the day. We got back on the bus and toured around the city til we got back at our hotel. The hotel had a free shuttle that returned us to Faneuil Hall in the evening so we could enjoy dinner at Cheers. For being such a tourist trap I was really impressed with the food!

Day 2

We started the foggy morning by heading to the harbor for our harbor tour that was included with our bus tour. So glad we took the first boat tour, it was just me, my mom and some lady from India – it was like a private tour of the harbor and as we were out on the water the fog lifted and it was a beautiful ride.

After the boat tour, it was time for lunch! Right on the wharf was Chart House and it seemed like just the place to eat and enjoy the harbor view. It was our nautical day so next stop: USS Constitution. This was the one spot I didn’t see last time I was in Boston cuz Rachel and I lost track of the RED line that was on the sidewalk. It is a beautiful ship and was neat to see how well it is taken care of.

Back on the trolley! Next we were going to stop at Prudential – there is a bar on the 52^nd floor that has great views of the Boston skyline, good place for a rest stop. Hopped the last trolley back to the hotel to freshen up and back to Quincy Market for dinner! We wandered for a bit trying to decide where to go and spent some time checking out the Holocaust memorial. It is actually pretty horrific. There were 6 towers to represent the concentration camps and a gassy fog came up through the vents in the sidewalk while you read quotes from Holocaust survivors. Nothing like eating after seeing that! After realizing some places were just too loud and bar-like we finally ended up on the patio of Anthem. Pleasant evening.

Day 3

The morning came and we were back in a taxi, cabbing it to Faneuil Hall to start up where we left off on the Freedom Trail. First stop, actual Faneuil Hall. I am glad we went inside, it was beautiful! Very nicely restored and oozed a wonderful sense of history. A few short blocks and we step into the North End, Boston’s Little Italy. It was a clear divide! Italian restaurants everywhere! We had some sites to see before I could gorge myself on Italian food though, like Paul Revere’s House! We were able to tour the inside see how it would have looked at the time he owned it. It was actually quite a large house for that era – which is good considering he had like 16 children!

Then on to the Old North Church. One if by land, two if by sea. Finally, time for some lunch. Italian lunch! On the plane ride to Boston we discovered we had a Boston local sitting next to us and he recommended Antico Forno. I can't say it was the best Italian meal I ever had but the server (from Brazil) had the most amazing eyes. So good lunch and onto Copp’s Hill Burying Ground which signaled the end of the trail for us. All we had to do was cross a bridge and we would be back at the USS Constitution which we already toured! So my mom did it - Freedom Trail, check!

Before we left the North End we had one last stop...everywhere we went we told to go to Mike’s Pastry for cannolis. So I guess we had to go! Um, yeah, it was pretty yummy! After that we were pretty tired out and retired early – we didn’t even have dinner this night!

Day 4

Figured out the subway system on the final day! We saved a bunch of coin and avoided all taxis. It took me a minute, but we got it figured out and didn’t end up taking us on a ride to Harvard or something – instead we made it to the lunch spot of the day: Omni Parker House’s The Last Hurrah – home of the parker rolls and creator of the Boston Cream Pie. Enjoyable lunch chatting with the couple at the table next to us who were from Saint Cloud! HA! Oh and there was a Best Buy conference at the hotel also so MN was all around.

After lunch we entered the subway again for a closer look at Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Both beautiful structures, inside and out.

At this point we had really seen it all and pretty tired of walking so we headed to the airport and dined at Jerry Remy’s Bar and Grill for our final Boston meal. Smooth plan ride home and a little kitten was happy to have me home!