Today was the day we planned our big trip down to Gwangju, Zinny's birthplace. Some said it couldn't be done, and we seriously considered staying in Seoul. But, we went, and because we hesitated so long, we had to book it to taxi, subway, train station. And to be honest, our legs are so tired from the bajillion stairs and Namsan Park, (and we both work out! We are in good shape) that I was trying to pass an elderly lady on the stairs at one of the subways, but I just couldn't do it! It was hysterical and a little embarrassing!
But we made it, with time to spare. The train was very nice.
A smooth 3 hour trip. And then we were there! Very emotional.
We met this guy, and he was so friendly, he let us take his photo. I find it fascinating to see men in fatigues, knowing what is just 30 miles north...crazy!
There are a lot of people in Korea, and the state is the size of like, Indiana. I am endlessly fascinated by the 50 story apartment buildings, and they always come in pods of 10-20.
Here are some photos of the countryside.
(Anne and I have a continuing debate about which is more dull, city building photos or landscape photos.....)
So we show up in Gwangju, we have no plan beyond that, don't know what's there, and we have no language translation book. We decided that this would have been a handy thing to have, but we had to wing it. And may I just say that taxi drivers do not speak English, they do not appreciate when you a)say the same thing over and over in English or b)talk loud and slow in English. They also don't like it when you hand them a map, pointing where you want to go, or trying to say your destination in Korean. And you can give them a piece of paper with your destination written in Korean and they will only understand it about 50% of the time! We have taken many many taxis! Good thing they are cheap and no tipping.
Thanks to Anne's sleuthing, we found this crazy department store and in the basement they have a grocery/beauty supply store. We saw these giant mussels in the fish department, and check out the flounder Oscar and Finn!
Seriously the mussels were 10-12 inches long and the flounder was 2 feet!
In the basement also was a 'diner'. Super cool! All along the counter were separate stations that specialized in one dish and a woman manning each one. There were like 12 stations, I've never seen anything like it. We ordered bibimbap and it was outstanding!
These are the abalones, kids. I ate them, they are sweet and fishy.
Skippy peanut butter costs $8.50 here!
We then took a taxi into downtown, to a very large market area.
It was a rainy day.
We were in search of a toy store, and again we were not finding anything. It seems every market we have been to has 4 different shops, clothes, shoes, accessories, and cell phones. It gets quite mundane after just a few minutes. But I'm not much into the shopping thing. A beautiful thing happened at about this point. But I will blog that in the Gwangju Day #2.
We had such a great time, we decided to catch a later train 'home'. Found a few souvenirs for you kids!! Bought a Gwangju newspaper for Zinny's baby box.
'Home' late, up super early to make our 2 hour, 5subway changes ride to DMCville for our city tour with Zinny's foster sisters' family. Very excited to meet them!
I love you Neil, Addie, Oscar, and Finn. I miss you too so much!
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