What you can do today. Because the 14th century monument you were planning to photograph might burn down in the night. Really. We had planned to take pictures of the Namdaemun Gate last night, but decided to wait until today to get both a day and a night shot. When we arrived at the hostel last night however, the entire staff was gathered around the TV watching in shock as Seoul's national treasure #1, the oldest wooden structure in the city, went up in flames. Arson is suspected. Our photo opportunity turned to ashes. Literally.
The gate stood in the heart of the business district, which could easily be mistaken for Manhattan with soaring skyscrapers standing sentry over hoardes of people all carfully choreographed by the traffic lights. We arrived right before lunchtime, and floatillas of businessmen in nearly identical suits flocked to and from the ruins on their way to lunch. It was sort of surreal.
From there, it was a little walk to the Seoul Museum of Art, which according to my guidebook, was the only museum open on Mondays. My guidebook was wrong. It was deciededly closed.
So we walked back to Namdaemun, whose market supposedly boasted a store with 2 floors of toys. Head filled with visions of Gundam, PSP's, and Transformer's, Cz really wanted to pay a visit. It too proved dissapointing, occupying only 1 floor, and containing only a few shelves of Gundam, though the market itself was pretty impressive.
Undaunted, we headed out to the (hard to find) Myong Dong Cathedral, oldest Catholic church in Korea, and known for its neogothic architecture. It was under renovation. Behind screens. At least the inside was open.
Seoul has a kimchi museum in the Coex Mall (where we spent day 1). It was closed then for the Lunar New Year. Turns out it's closed Mondays too.
By now I was so frustrated with spending my last full day in Korea travelling from burned, closed, and under renovation attractions that I was ready to hit someone. So we went to the Coex arcade and blew up a legion of zombies. That made me feel better.
Then we went to 63 Tower, Seoul's tallest building. The Imax was already closed, but the aquarium and skydeck, with views of the city were both open. In addition to the fishes, the aquarium was also home to a flock of penguins (who did not tapdance), seals, sea lions, and a friendly sea turtle.
One touch tank consisted of the standard starfish and hermit crabs, but another was populated by 'Dr fish', small fishes that feed on dead skin. Plexi boxes with finger holes invited a feeding frenzy on anyone who dunked winter-chapped fingertips. The little fish mouths tickled fiercely, and kind of gave Cz the heeby-jeebies, but he held out long enough for a picture.
A feature of every Asian aquarium seems to be the beautifully lit jellyfish display. This one was no exception with luminious jellies of every colour floating in their individual tanks.
After the aquarium, we rode the glass elevator up to the 62nd floor observation deck. Elevators make me nervous to begin with. This one had the added fear factor of being able to see all. the. way. down. All 600+ feet of it. Once on the skydeck, the walls of windows provided 360 degree views over the city of Seoul and the Han river, lit up like a Christmas Tree. There was also a section with a glass floor so one could look past one's feet all the way to the ground, some 62 stories below. It was terrifying. I did it twice. We finished out the trip with nachos overlooking the lights of the city.
It almost redeemed the rest of the day.
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