Seoul

We have wanted to go to Seoul for years. We had booked two trips to go skiing in Japan and had to cancel both for random reasons, so in the end, we made an autumn trip to Seoul and Tokyo. It will be our third time in Tokyo, our first in Seoul, and hopefully not our last.

Seoul is a friendly, monochromatic city (as almost everyone wears black, white, and grey) where coffee, beauty products, and golf reign supreme. There is something futuristic about it, too.

We landed and ate dinner at Palsun, an excellent Chinese restaurant in the Shillo Hotel. Besides the Peking duck, our favorite dish was the Cantonese-style eggplant and tofu. It’s not surprising that the Chinese food here is delicious.

Ambien is my friend when we travel. It pushes me to get in the time zone. On our first day and every day since, we have been putting in almost 20,000 steps. We went to the Apgujeong/Garosu-Gil/Gangam part of town. The key to getting around is the subway. They are clean, efficient, well-air-conditioned and large. It only we had these in NYC!

There is a coffee shop or two on every block. We went over to Camel. There are a few around the city, and I believe some are in the States now, too. This iced coffee with a thick cream on top hits the spot. Caffeinated treat to get the day going.

There are also plenty of parks that make the neighborhoods family-friendly.

Breakfast is not big here, and we needed something so we stopped in to Tartine, and the bread is fantastic.

Gentle Monster is a futuristic eyeglass store; a few are around the city.

They are cool but not for me.

There is a member-only Cooking Library. They let us poke around on the ground floor, but that is it. There is an extensive cooking library, a space on the roof where they grow vegetables, a few spaces for chefs brought in from around Korea, an area to try spices from around the globe, and I am sure more. It is a very cool spot.

We hit up some stores; this one is called Empty Basement, filled with Korean brands I have never heard of.

There is also a Corso Como, one of the most incredible stores out of Milan. Unfortunately their NYC store went bust, bad location choice.

Boon is in the same area; it reminds me of Barneys (RIP) when Barneys was at the height of fashion.

Fried chicken is big here. Most places are chains, and some are gross, but we did pop into Kyochon for a few wings.

We returned to the hotel and walked by the palace, which sits right in the middle of downtown, to chill pre-dinner.

Dinner was at Born and Bred, a 22-course cow festival. We have been to these tasting events over the years, where 8-10 people sit around a chef who explains the process and the food, so I know the key is one bite per dish, even though it doesn’t make them happy. Also, eating that much steak is overwhelming.

A good entry into Seoul. We are on our fourth day, so am a bit back logged on posting, I have been reading and chilling instead, which is much needed, hopefully more tomorrow.