It was our Last day in Seoul. Suzy left early in the morning in order to catch a train to Gangneung. He would be spending the day out there before watching a Kpop concert in the evening. That left Physio and I to enjoy a very laid back day.
Greyspoon
Our first order of business was food. Over the past few days Physio had been gone twice to this one Italian restaurant called Greyspoon. And he had really good things to say about it, so we decided to go again. The restaurant was decorated nicely and we enjoyed a very tasty pasta dish! The prices were also quite affordable, so if you find yourself in Seoul with a hankering for something non Korean, this might be a place to check out
The War Memorial of Korea
After lunch, I wanted to find a post office to mail a few postcards I’d picked up along the way. I googled one nearby and I enjoyed the walk, but I found it closed for the weekend. Surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be any other way to get stamps!
With the realization that I wouldn’t get to send out my postcards, I hopped on a train and made my way back to the War Memorial I felt that that I didn’t have enough time here the first time around and wanted to give it another shot. Thankfully I got to spend a few hours going through the exhibits a bit more thoroughly and I really enjoyed the time here. It’s a very complete view of the Korean war and well worth the visit if this interests you.
Speed Skating and Beer
After meeting up with Physio again, we went out to do a little shopping before looking for a bar so that we could watch some Olympics over a few drinks. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of being around locals cheering for their country so we wanted to find this again. We ended up finding a “largish” bar called World of Beer. Where we ordered a few beverages and snacks. We got to watch Mass Start Speed Skating, which was new to me. And it took both Physio and I a little while before we “got it”. But there were Koreans involved and when they were vying for medals it was exciting to be in that atmosphere.
It was a relaxing evening and I enjoyed it very much after all the things we did throughout the trip. It was nice to just sit down and enjoy some sports. Soon after, we returned to our AirBNB, where we started to pack and get ready for travel the next day.
Flying Home
Suzy returned from the concert quite late, and really only had a few hours before we had to be up and on the way to the airport again. It took us about an hour to train to the airport, and thankfully we budgeted enough time, since there was quite a wait. I guess the mass Olympic exodus was starting and it took us a little while before we got through security. After getting through security we had a little bit of spare time to enjoy some breakfast in the Gimpo Sky Hub Lounge. They had a decent selection of food and beverage. It wasn’t too crowded so that was nice to get a bit of respite before boarding our plane enroute to Shanghai.
After arriving in Shanghai, we had a 4 hour layover. We returned to the Air China lounge (which we’d visited on our way here) and enjoyed another comfortable layover. Though we were both pretty tired, we tried to stay up so we could sleep on the plane and fight Jet Lag. Our flight from Shanghai to Vancouver was smooth and uneventful and before we knew it we were home!
Home!
As always, I’ll save most of my thoughts for a wrap-up. But all in all I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Korea. It wasn’t what I expected, and it surprised me in many ways! Coupled with getting to attend another Olympics, truly made this trip special. I’m thankful for the opportunity to travel and see this lovely country. I enjoyed exploring not just the country, but the different pockets of its varied culture as well. All in all, I’ll remember Korea fondly and look forward to re-visiting sometime in the future!