On our final full day in Korea, we had three things on our agenda.  Something called the Sheep Cafe, which was a coffee shop that had live sheep in it.  Something called Times Square, which appeared to a shopping outlet of some sort.  And the final item was a Korean BBQ joint for our eating pleasure.
Liz opted to stay home with the twins, so Rob, Jim and I headed out on the subway in search of great adventures.
Our first stop was to be the Sheep Cafe, but Jim couldn’t find it right off and we appeared to be closer to Times Square so we headed over there.
The reason Times Square as even on our agenda, was because when we first knew we were going to Korea, we googled “things to do in Korea” and this came up.  Turns out it is just a really big shopping mall, and not a cheap one.  So after stopping at a couple of shops, we told Jim that Times Square wasn’t what we thought it was going to be and maybe we needed to go elsewhere.  We stopped at a coffee shop and regrouped.

It was decided that we should go off in search of another type of shopping.  An outside market.

We never actually found that market, but we did eventually find the sheep cafe, which was very underwhelming.  I was hoping that the sheep just wandered around while you drank your coffee and ate your scone, but that wasn’t the case.  They were kept in a pen outside the actual cafe and they didn’t seem very excited to be there.

We never even set foot in the cafe.
So that just left a Korean BBQ place.  Unfortunately, we discovered that those types of restaurants are only open for dinner hours, so it was a no go.  We opted instead for a Bibimbap place that was located in a basement.  Rob had already tried this on the plane and he was a fan, but this was my first go round.  Since I didn’t like anything too spicy, I opted for the bean paste instead of the chili paste.  What was failed to communicate, was the bean paste was fermented and so when I put a big heaping spoonful on my  rice and veggies, it overpowered the whole dish.  I wasn’t a fan.  I kind of started feeling sick to my stomach after eating (I ate about half, I was starving and needed something!) and asked to sit in the place a little bit longer.  Rob gave me a Tums and then we headed up to the street.  Once I was out of the basement I started to feel better.

We walked around a bit more and then stopped for some Ice Cream at this little stand.  It was called Honey Com and the ice cream was supposed to be made with honey rather than sugar.  We got an Affogato, which is a scoop of ice cream covered with a shot of espresso and is pure heaven!

We finally headed back to the Subway and headed home.  Once there, it was decided that Liz and I would leave the twins with the boys and take ourselves out for a nice dinner.  Finally getting the Korean BBQ that we sought after all afternoon.  There was some downtime of course, I went upstairs and read for a bit and then we ventured out.

Liz led us over to Itaewan and we walked for a little while before she recognized the restaurant that was literally a hole in the wall.  Just a stairway, that we climbed and found a nice little eatery.  We were led to a table and Liz ordered to the best of her recollection of what they usually get.

Everything was delicious and I tried things I wouldn’t normally try, even liking some of them!  Imagine that!

On the way back to the apartment, we did a small amount of shopping and then stopped at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream.  If you get the second to smallest cup size they let you have four different kinds of ice cream and then if you get it to go, they give you dry ice to put in the bag to keep it from melting!  Ha!  If I remember right, I got New York Cheesecake, Cotton Candy, Snacknado and Cookies and Cream.  The boys were quite happy when I shared when we got home.
And that was how we ended out last full day in Korea.  Eating ice cream and watching part of a movie before we headed up to bed to pack the best we could and go to sleep.

***

Friday morning we were up, showered, packed and out of the apartment by eleven.  Before I left, I said my goodbyes to my nephews.  I told Carson to be good for his mother and father and he laughed in my face.  Seriously, I said it three times and each time he gleefully chortled at me.  That kid is going to be trouble…
Our flight wasn’t until five thirty, but Jim had to do some work at one that afternoon and he wanted to make sure we were going to be on our way to the airport before he left.  He took us on the subway to Seoul Station where we were able to not only check into our flight, get our boarding passes and check our luggage, but now, because we checked in at the subway station , we got bypass the regular security gate when we got to the airport.  We were going to be able to use the line that all the flight staff and diplomats used!  Pretty big bonus if you ask me!
Once our passes were obtained and we checked our bags, we walked around a bit upstairs and got some Dunkin.

Soon after, Jim bid us ado and we were on our own to take the train to the airport.  Thankfully, it was painless and the seats were much more comfortable than the plane!

After about a half an hour we arrived at the Seoul Airport.  Since our bags were checked and our passes already printed, we found a spot to drain the water/drinks we had packed in our carry ons before going through security.

We were way early but we didn’t have anything else to do, so we found our gate and headed through the special security that we were able to use for checking in at the Subway station.  I had my doubts that it would work, but honestly…that was the quickest I had ever passed through a security gate EVER.  A total of five minutes, from the time we entered to the time we passed through the detectors and passed immigration with our bags and passports.  I wish all airports did this, because I am a FAN!

With not much else to do, we found our gate and planted ourselves in some seats.  I headed off to find some food since I was starving at that point.  We only had about 11,000 Won left on us which equals about 11 bucks American money so in an effort to be frugal I found a stand that had some stuff wrapped in fish cakes.  I got a hot dog wrapped one for Rob and a rice roll wrapped one for me.

It didn’t satisfy us for long so I was able to stretch the money out a bit further by getting a hotdog type of bread (like hot dogs sliced up and baked in a bread) and a potato croquet at another eatery.  That only left us with about a dollar fifty left, but it was fine at that point.  I settled into my slippers and got comfy.

Finally, the plane started boarding.  I will never understand why on a flight with assigned seating, people start lining up as soon as they announce boarding.  Your seat isn’t going to change!  Rob mentioned overhead bin space and I guess that is where we differ from the “normal” traveler.  I see them in line for boarding with their “carry on” bags that should clearly be checked.  They are far too big and I GET that you don’t want to have to wait at baggage claim, but damn man, TRY and follow the rules.  Since our carry on bags always fit under the seats, we never have to worry about the overhead bins and therefore stay seated until the line is almost done and then get on the plane.  It makes it feel like the plane takes off faster that way too.  🙂
On board I took a quick selfie of us and then it was off into the sky.

What was a 12 hour flight on the way to Korea, was a 10 hour flight on the way home.  Something to do with the head winds and all that jazz, but I was just glad it was two hours less.  Once again, I didn’t get a lick of sleep on the plane.  In my youth I used to be able to sleep sitting up, but not so much now.  I watched the end of Joy, which I wasn’t able to finish on the flight over.  I also watched “Daddy’s Home” and “Spotlight” to keep me occupied.  I really enjoyed Spotlight and I really enjoyed watching a shirtless Marky Mark in the other one.  😉  I also played a lot of solitaire and started a very interesting book that I hope to finish soon called “When I’m Gone”.  Overall, it made the flight pass fairly quickly for a ten hour flight.  The only downside other than having started my period the day before, was that I apparently was allergic to something on the plane.  After about an half an hour in the air to the time we touched down, my nose started to be runny and stuffy at the same time.  I had post nasal drip running down the back of my throat like crazy and I had to keep going to the lavatory to get tissues.  It was VERY annoying, but once we landed and I was out of there it was fine.
Once we were safe on the ground in San Francisco, we collected our baggage, which took a while and then made our way out to the sidewalk to wait for the Airbus.  Our bus was scheduled for 1:45.  We were hoping to get the earlier bus that came at 12:30 if everything went smoothly but it was already 12:40 by the time we headed out to the curb.  We settled in and got prepared to wait for an hour.

Like a vision of wonder, five minutes later the Airbus pulled up next to us.  We quickly asked if we could take this bus instead of the later one we had reserved and he said no problem.  So awesome!  Now we would get into town in time to pick up our dogs that night instead of the next day.
We got cozy on the bus and were so happy to be on our way home.

Rob managed to get some sleep, while I put on my headphones and listened to some music to distract from the fact that the driver was risking our lives with his erratic driving ,but he did get us back into Marina at record time.  My In Laws picked us up there right on time and drove us back to their house where I was never so happy to see my lovely Honda Fit sitting in their yard

So overall the trip was probably one of the funnest vacations I’ve had in a long time.  Everything was new.  Unlike Maine and Vegas which we have done so many times before, every day in Korea was a new adventure.  I did several things in spite of my many fears that I am proud of, ranging from simply eating things I wouldn’t have normally to climbing down in that tunnel on the DMZ tour.  And I’m glad for every single thing I did.
While it wouldn’t be at the top of my list of places to retire to, I could see myself living in Korea if it came down to it.  The two things I will not miss however, is the lack of personal space in public places.  Korean people will run you over if you let them.  They aren’t particularly rude, they just appear to have the mindset that if they need to get to somewhere that you are, they can just bump you out of the way with no apology or even acknowledgment.   They also don’t smile back at you.  I’m a smiley person by nature.  When I pass someone on the street I tend to smile and I find it disturbing when they don’t smile back.  In Korea, they NEVER smile back.  It took a lot of getting used to for me.

Having said that, I did really enjoy my vacation very much.  My brother and sister in law were the best hosts.  I know it can’t be easy letting two people into your household for two weeks, especially with two newborns that you are trying to get on a schedule, but they did so graciously and without complaint (to us anyway).  And those babies.  Oh my goodness!!!  I love those two little squishy faces so very much.  I miss them so much already it’s crazy.  I can’t even fathom how different they are going to look when I see them next and that breaks my heart.  But I am super grateful for the opportunity to get to meet them at all.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and got ready for the DMZ tour.  That is a tour put on by the USO that takes you to the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea.  It is an eight hour tour that goes over a lot of the history and takes you to many different spots showcasing the history.
We hopped in the car and after a minor accidental detour, made it to the USO unscathed and on time for the tour.  We loaded into the tour bus with 40+ other tourists and traveled about an hour to the first stop on the tour.  The 3rd underground tunnel.

According to our tour guide, this was one of the tunnels that North Korea dug in order to plan an attack on South Korea back in the day.  We got to climb down into the tunnel and check it out but were not allowed to take pictures.  We were warned before heading into the tunnel that if we had any type of phobia, it was probably not wise to proceed…especially claustrophobia.  Whelp, as you all know, I am the queen of phobias and claustrophobia has been a big one for me in the past.  Jim told me that I could head down and if I wanted to turn around at any time I could, so I gave it a shot.
The first thing I noticed before we even got to the tunnel was the extremely steep downhill trek we had to make to get there.  It seemed never ending and all I could think about was that we had to make our way back up it to get out.
Once we got to the tunnel we ducked and headed in.  Jim was in front of me and he kept making jokes to keep my mind off the tight spaces, but it was actually him repeatedly hitting his hardhat on the beams that kept me cracking up.  At 5’4″ the tunnel wasn’t too small for me, but for him at 6’2″ he was struggling to stay hunched over enough.
Long story short, I made it through the entire tunnel and I was really proud of myself.  Rob said he thought sure I had turned around until he heard me laughing in the distance behind him.  He was kinda proud of me too.  🙂  The walk back up to the lobby was a bit tough though.  A very steep uphill battle that had me stopping several times to catch my breath.  I may do half marathons, but those are flat!
When I finally got to the top, Jim was waiting with much needed water and a power bar from the gift shop.  After that we headed into the other building to see a short video of the history of the Koreas, before taking some pictures in front of the buildings and then getting back on the bus.

The second stop was the observatory, which didn’t prove very interesting because it was too overcast to see anything but we did watch another video on the history.  We stopped at the gift store for a yummy chocolate coffee drink and then it was back on the bus, heading to the next stop: LUNCH!

The lunch was served at a cafeteria.  We had the choice of Bulgogi or Bipimbap.  I got the Bulgogi and Rob got the other.  It was quite yummy and filling but we had to eat fast or we were going to miss our window of opportunity for the debriefing at our fourth stop: North Korea.

But first we stopped at the third part of the tour.  A hardly used Subway Station.  I know there was some significance to this but I don’t remember what it was.  I just know that there is only one train that goes to and from at this station and you have to get a round trip ticket.  There is no one way to this stop.

So I mentioned the fourth and last stop being North Korea. Heh.  Yeah, kind of.
At the next stop we had to sign a waiver that if anything happened to us, we had no recourse and blah, blah, blah and then got a short lecture on more history.  After that we were led outside and into a small building that was built on the border of South and North Korea.  In the middle there was a table and on that table was a couple of microphones.  The microphones were the line that was used to represent the border.  If you were on the further side of the microphones you were in North Korea.  So everyone had the chance to step over and get your picture taken NEAR one of the guards before we quickly and quietly made our way back into South Korea and back onto the bus to go see another observation point.  More pictures, and back on the bus to go see the Bridge of No Return and then we headed back to the camp where we were originally debriefed.

Selfie taken in North Korea

On the North Korean side.

That was the end of the tour so everyone had time to go to the gift shop and then we all loaded back into the bus for the long drive home in rush hour traffic.

Side note: You could not PAY me to drive in Seoul.  It appears to be worse than LA and the drivers give ZERO fucks.
So the tour was very interesting and quite educational for me as I knew very little about any of the history of this place.  The whole North Korea excursion was very surreal and really made you think.
We got home and Rob was off almost immediately to go to a jam session with some of his work connections.  I helped out with the twins while Jim made pasta and meat sauce, which I ate and promptly headed up to bed.  My plan was to watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix on my Ipad, but Korea had other ideas.  Apparently, you do not get the same type of feed that you do in the US and there was no GG on the menu.  So I went to bed instead.  Rob came up sometime around one thirty or so and came to bed.

***

The next day was Sunday and that was the day we were going to head into Gangnam and get a hotel room.  Jim had booked us at the Nox Boutique Hotel for two nights because it was near our plans for those two days.  A baseball game and Lotte World.
Since the hotel was in Jim’s name and he was coming with us to the game, all three of us headed out on the subway around noon.  We got to the hotel relatively painlessly, but it was too early to check in.  So we made sure that we could check in without Jim after the game and checked out luggage before heading back out to the subway to get to the Sports Complex.  Once we were there, we wandered around until we found the ticket booth and marveled at all the people.
Tickets in hand, we bought some hats because it was overcast but hot…typical sunburn weather, and then headed up to our seats.

The game itself was pretty boring until the sixth inning or so, but it was really cool to be at a place where the culture was the same.  Good old baseball.  Beer in hand, cheering for the team of your choice and having a grand old time.  We ended up leaving around the eighth inning because Jim had to take off and given the amount of people at the stadium, the thought of the subway system when it let out was too scary to bear.
We bid Jim ado on the the subway train and headed up to our hotel.  We checked in with no problem and got to our room on the eleventh floor.  There were a total of five room on each floor.  The hotel is tall but it is very skinny as most buildings are here.  The room itself was pretty cool.   There was a computer, fridge, big screen TV and the best part was the bathroom.  It has a Jacuzzi tub along with a stand up shower that has a rainfall shower head and a steamer in it, and the toilet not only has a heated seat, but it also functions as a bidet.
We unpacked a bit and then headed back out to get dinner.  We wound up getting some Korean chicken that was quite tasty.  Back up in the room, we each took baths and then watched Korean TV until we went to bed.

On Tuesday we woke up and I played with the babies for awhile.

Then it was time to shower and get dressed before heading out to get our permanent base passes for the trip.  That was relatively painless and then we filled up water bottles for the house and then drop off our temporary passes back at the base.
After that we hung around the house for a bit before taking the twins out for a trip to the Namdaemun Market.   This would be the first time Jim and Liz would go out while wearing both boys in wraps on their persons instead of in a stroller.

We walked to the Subway station and were delighted to find a Dunkin Donuts in the subway station!  We debated on getting a coffee but after being told the market had very little in the way of bathrooms, we decided it would be safer to get one on the way back to the house instead. After lots of escalators and a transfer we made it to a massive outside market.  It was like a giant flea market with some small shops mixed in the middle.
We walked around for a while and it was proved to me that Korean people go absolutely batshit over babies.  Especially white babies…especially, especially white twin babies.  They just walk up to you and start touching the child and telling you what you are doing wrong.  It was quite unnerving and semi-cute at the same time.

After finding a place to change our money into Won, we got some dumplings from a street vendor and stopped at a couple of benches for a quick bite.  The dumplings were pretty delicious, and after the lovely lunch, we walked around a bit more.  I made my first Korean purchase, getting a couple of grocery bags that fold up into a small square.  Liz recommended them and I have to say they have already come in handy in our trip.

After more walking around we eventually headed back to the house stopping at the Dunkin Donuts in the subway from some much needed caffeine.

Even with that, soon after arriving home, exhaustion over took me.  Liz requested Thai food and that sounded good to me, so the boys headed out and Liz and I sat with the babies, dozing off here and there until they got back.
I quickly dug into my yellow curry and then headed up to bed.

***

Wednesday morning Rob got up and he and his brother headed into a nearby town to check out a music store.  Rob had been invited to perform in a jam session with some of his work connections so the plan was to buy a guitar while here and then let Jim have it after we leave.
I lolled around in bed for a bit, playing around on my phone before descending downstairs to play with the babies.  That was pretty much all I did all morning other than showering and a load of laundry.
When the boys got back we decided we would all head out to Itaewon, a nearby town to see the different shops.  I was beginning to realize that shopping was a big part of Korean culture.  Liz had to get some stuff done so she would head out a little later and meet us.  We walked around for quite a while seeing all the different Americanized shops and eateries, as well as more traditional ones.

On our way back we ran into Liz and she and I sent the boys back home with the babies while we walked around a bit more.
When we got back home, the boys had already decided dinner was going to be burgers on the grill.  Jim got called into work so Rob manned the BBQ and I have to say the burgers turned out delish!  I ate a burger and then Rob and I cuddled up on the couch and watched a hilarious short film on Netflix called Kung Fury before heading up to bed and passing out.  Jet leg is real!

***

Thursday morning’s adventure was the Noryangjin fish market.   We took several different subway trains before getting to this large market where they sold…you guessed it, fish!  It wasn’t as stinky as I imagined it, but it wasn’t something would go out of my way to do again.  I’m glad I did it because it is a part of the culture here and we got to see quite a few neat things.

We ended up getting salmon, marinated cod and scallops the size of a fist for dirt cheap and then headed back home.  On the way we stopped at a waffle stand and got some snacks.  I got a sweet potato waffle and Jim got a hot dog waffle.  Both were quite good and it launched Jim’s dream of opening his own waffle stand for drunk frat boys at one AM in a college town.  😉

Once we got back home, the boys headed out with the twins to the Korean War Memorial while Liz and I caught a nap.  By the time I woke up, Rob was home and already BBQing up the fish.   Not being much a fish person, I opted for a leftover burger from the night before.
Before we knew it, it was time for Midnight Shopping.  We headed out with Liz and some neighbors of theirs into town to walk around the streets where all of these little tiny tents had popped up selling all kinds of different things.  We didn’t end up buying much other than a few pairs of socks, but it was a really good experience just to walk around and see all the different kinds of things and people.

We  accidentally bumped into one of the places Rob wanted to eat at that night, so we were able to cross it off our list early.  Isaac Toast.  I guess it is pretty big in Seoul and Rob was very excited to try one of their sandwiches.  It was pretty tasty.

We got home around midnight and hit the sack because even with the nap, jetleg was still a thing.

***

Friday we deemed to just be a sort of kick around the house day.  We chilled out in the morning, not doing much of anything.  Organizing pictures, playing with babies, that sort of thing.

Rob and I thought about taking a trip into Itaewan for souvenirs, but instead we opted to take the boys out with Jim to the Electronic Market, to visit his favorite DVD guy.  Boy am I glad we did!  For 70 bucks American we bought over 30 DVD’s.  It was awesome.

Back home we were too tired to do much else so we ordered Korean Fried Chicken to be delivered and headed to bed early because Saturday was a big day.  The DMZ tour!