Daegu

I haven't a good chance to organize pictures or thoughts about our trip to Daegu. In a nutshell, it was probably the best part of our trip. Beautiful mountains, green grass and trees, the best food of the whole trip,and great friends. Next trip, we'll spend more time in this part of the country and less time in Seoul. I'll try to post more pictures later. But for now... .this was taken at a photo booth on the street. Then it lets you send it to any email address that you want. Very cool!

Doeksugang Palace, Namdaemun Market, and a relaxing evening

On Thursday, we went to Doeksugang Palace. Charles had had a lot of pictures taken there when he was a baby and I knew the boys would like the changing of the guard ceremony. We did okay, but it was so hot that the trip through palace after the guard ceremony was not much appreciated.

  

Us with the guard. Boys are not looking very pleased.

Travis realized just how hard it was to take pictures of the boys and only got this one by sprinting ahead and waiting for us to come down the steps.

They were a little happier when we found this fountain. I think spraying the water at each other was not really the intention of the fountain, but the boys sure appreciated it. Unfortunately, they weren't much happier afterwards so we decided we needed to feed them.

Min at lunch giving us a bottle concert.

Mom, the pack mule. Min got tired in the market so I packed him back to the guesthouse. Travis thought it would be funny to make me carry everything we bought.

We all crashed for awhile in the afternoon and then walked over to Yonsei University so the boys could run around. Here they are watching the Yonsei University baseball team practice.

Of course, these two found the water fountain right away.

Racing on the track.

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Min got so tired from all the running and playing hide-and-seek that he had to lay down on the steps.

They managed to find enough energy to exercise on the exercise equipment at the park on the way back to the guesthouse.

The little van we found on the way back. No one can ever stand still long enough to get a decent picture.

Eurwangi Beach

We decided to go to the beach on Tuesday. We picked the closest one to Seoul and it was also recommended as a good family beach since the water wasn't very deep. We had to take the train to the airport and then a bus to the beach. Then we realized the error of our ways. When you take two adults who have lived their entire lives in either North Dakota or Minnesota, quite possibly as far from the ocean as you can get in the U.S., they don't even consider the tide. So, we got to the beach and saw that the tide was far from the beach... as in about 400 yards from the beach. The good news was that I was able to ask someone on the beach how long it would take for the water to come back. Thumbs up for Mom!! So, we had to walk through about 400 yards of mud... and some pretty good shell hunting... to get to the water. There lay the second disappointment. The water was so muddy.  The boys were not to be swayed and I decided that we did not fly to the other side of the world, take a train, a bus, and wander through 400 yards of mud to not let them go in the West Sea.

The boys beginning the trek to the water.

And, continuing the trek. We are much closer and I am also carrying a gallon sized baggie full of various shells.

Charles and Min in the water. Charles got to the water and turned to me and said, 'Can we go in this water?'

My little engineer found some sand and got to work. Charles absolutely LOVES building in the sand.

Min loved being crashed by the waves.

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Charles and part of his sand creation. This part he named, 'The Big Pond.'



The part of his river that empties into the pond.

So the other benefit of getting to the ocean when the tide was out, is that the boys got to watch it come in. A very cool science lesson.

Dinner on the street

So, after Min wouldn't keep napping and we were tired of the subway, we decided to wander down the street and see what we could find for dinner.

Min needed a bath first. He's into dumping as much soap into the tub as he can get away with. Results are a lot of bubbles, a lot of fun, and a very clean boy. A pretty good combination if it didn't mean a lot less soap.

Street vendors which is what we decided would be dinner. Now, what to choose?

We passed a stand selling double-dipped corn dogs for 1,000 won.. about 90 cents. Who could pass that up? The boys eating dinner.

The stand that sold us dinner. A very nice couple.

We decided to keep wandering and see what else we could find. Here is a street near where we are staying. It is also close to a university.

Another street we decided to check out.

Happened to find a stand selling these fish-shaped pancakes. Very good!!

What a day for Henry... Kukkiwon!!

We decided to go to Kukkiwon, the World Taekwondo Headquarters, on Monday. Little did what an amazing day it would be.         

Entrance to Kukkiwon

Henry standing inside the Kukkiwon Headquarters.

We had been watching the demo team practice while sitting in the regular stadium seats, but one of the people from the demo team waved us over these seats. These are the seats where the Grandmasters sit during competitions. They even put a fan on for us. Eventually a few other people who were part of a group joined us. We still didn't know that the Kukkiwon Demo Team was going to perform, but when they got ready... well, we were in for a real show. Please pardon the blurriness of some of the pictures below. The people were moving so fast that I couldn't get them clear.



And, our little trooper just couldn't quite make it. He fell asleep on the subway. I carried him all the way back to the guesthouse, got him into our room, and just as I was going to lay him down on the bed he woke up.



The view from our room, the kitchen, and the end of the hallway.

Took some pictures today of the views out of the windows in our guesthouse.

This is one is from the end of the hall.

Whoever lives in this house has a little white dog. We've seen the man feeding him in the morning.

We usually some people taking a morning stroll along these streets in the morning.

From our room window.

Also from our room window. Today the white house toward the top right had something delivered and it had to be done by crane. The crane put two big wooden boxes on the roof. I think that streets and walkways are too narrow to have anything delivered by truck.

A quiet day... well, as quiet as you can get with 3 boys

Given the excitement and exhaustion after our day at Lotte World. We decided we should have a quieter Sunday.  The plan was to go to Insadong, an street filled with arts and crafts vendors, antique sellers, and lots of little restaurants.

Started off with photos by the frog statue outside the guesthouse. And, yes, Min is carrying a giant green pencil. That was what he wanted to buy as a souvenir from the guest shop at the Folk Museum. It was made in China. 

Exploring the stairs and door next to the driveway into the guesthouse.

Charles loves this statue by the Rinnai Building. We had to stop for pictures here too.

I can't remember the names for these guys but their purpose is to protect against evil spirits. Maybe they should have protected against us.

The little lady selling strips of pineapple.

We decided to try to find someplace for lunch. Seoul is loaded with these little bitty side streets, or alleys, full of tiny restaurants and shops. Insadong was no exception though the alleys seem even smaller here...more like hallways.

We checked out this little alley.

And then this one. Here are the boys checking out the octopus in the aquarium. Actually, there were many of them in there but I can't remember the plural form of octopus. Is it octopi?

Checking out yet another little alley.

And another. Yes, we did finally stop to eat but it is kind of fun to explore these little places.

The man playing the flute in street.



Some grasshoppers made out of some kind of reed, or grass, or corncob husk... I'm not sure but they were pretty cool.



And, a grasshopper made out of the same sort of greenery.


We ended up going back to the guesthouse and having a well-earned nap. Min slept for 2 1/2 hours. We went upstairs to see the babies again. We ended up getting to hold a different little boy this time. Charles named him Ben.