Thursday - Ready to Go(?)! or T-14 hours

Well, tomorrow morning (Friday), we're off to meet Aaidan for the first time and take him back to the hotel with us.  We got a few things ready in the room his evening, and are getting everything ready to go for 11AM Friday.  We know we may all be in for a tough few days as we all get to know one another, but we're looking forward to it...keep us all in your thoughts prayers....and we'll blog more soon when we can!

Thursday - Preppin' for Buddha's 2555th!

Well, 4 years ago when we were here to meet Annabelle for the first time, we were in town around the time of Buddha's birthday.  This time, we're also in town just before the birthdate, and our hotel is just a few steps away from the Jogeysa temple where they're getting ready to celebrate!  Saturday evening there will be a parade which starts somewhere else in town (and ends here), and Sunday there is a street fair.  We're always amazed at all the pretty colors from the lanterns!  Here are just a few (well more than a few) of the many shots we took by the temple today...enjoy!  (Oh, he's turning 2555 next week!)

Thursday - Browsing and Dinner in Insadong

Later in the day on Thursday we took a walk down the main Insadong street to pick up a few last minute gifts and later went out for dinner.  Insadong was PACKED - again, must be from the holiday.  It was reasonably busy the other days we've been there, but mobbed today...but fun, as there were more street vendors out and about.

For dinner, we had another dinner where they kept bringing out more and more food (like the night before).  In addition to the normal mix of side dishes, we had chapchae, bulgogi, fish, tofu stew, eggs cooked in a hotpot, rice, and a few more things I forget.  Total cost 30,0000 WON (which works out to about 13/person back home when you factor in the exchange rate and that tax was included and there's no tipping in Korea!!)  The older Korean gentleman at the table next to us even offered to share some of his Korean rice wine with us (brand was "long life"), which was both nice of him and tasty to drink!

Thursday - Music and Dancing in Myeongdong

After lunch, we were going to head out on the subway to the Kyobo book store to pick up some Korean music CDs, but we happened to pass by a store in Myeong-Dong which focused on Korean music.  With the help of one of the nice staff ladies there, we picked up several K-Pop (Korean Pop) CDs as well as one kids CD.

After we left the store, we passed by a throng of people watching a dance contest, where various people would come up and dance - not sure if it was a contest, or what, but it was a riot!

Thursday - Porridge in Myeong-Dong

While we were in Myeong-Dong, we were getting hungry...we stumbled upon a second-floor walkup restaurant that specialized in Korean rice porridge and thought we'd give it a try.  (Beth tried some for the first time on the plane ride over, and we had some one time at our hotel with breakfast, but this was our first time having it at a restaurant.) It was awesome....and filling!  Beth had mushroom and oyster porridge and Fritz had mushroom and beef....yum!  Now we'd like to have some at home sometime!

Thursday - Out and about in Myeong-Dong

After going to Lotte's, we set out to browse around Myeong-Dong, another one of the shopping districts.  It was pretty crowded for a Thursday, probably because it was Children's Day (a national holiday here in Korea).  This is a newer, more trendy shopping area, and it was sprinkled with more American-brand stores - it was weird seeing American and other countries stores here...we kind of like the Korean style ourselves.

 Korean  Street Food

 Sample American Stores :(

Thursday - Shopping for Sneaks at Lotte Department Store

Well, the shoes Mommy brought to Seoul were good for slipping on/off....which you do at some of the more traditional places and even in the hotel....but werent' the best for all the walking around town....so Thursday AM we headed down to Myeong-Dong and the Lotte Department Store.  We went there last time, and were equally impressed this time too.  It is huge (10+ floors), and is probably more like what our downtown department stores were like back in the "heyday".  Each little section had multiple well-dressed clerks ready to help out.  One of the bottom floors had a very high-end grocery department with all types of goodies.  It was NOTHING like the Macy's shoe department we went to before we left home, where everything looked dumpy and picked over!  Here, the lady even tied Beth's shoes for her!They definitely had more bright colored sneakers than we've seen back home..

 Mommy's New Shoes!