Record Snowfall, View from Yeouido

Today was the first working day of 2010, so I dragged my butt out of bed, through the shower, into my clothes, etc, etc, and looked outside at 7 AM from my third floor window, only to see a good six inches of snow on the ground, with more of it falling fast.

The snow began at 1 AM, the papers say, and it was still snowing heavily when I left school at 1 PM, though it tapered off by mid-afternoon. Here in Gangseo-gu, I give it a good 12 inches, though the official record books will say 25.7 cm (10").

Still, that's enough to set a new record for Seoul snowfall--though record keeping only goes back to 1937. The previous high was 25.6 cm on Jan. 28 1969.

I grabbed my camera and made my way to one of my favorite spots in the city--Yeouido Park. Good choice, as it turns out; here are a few photos:



Above is a sign identifying the cycling path versus walking trail (didn't see a single biker, and precious few walkers, for that matter); at top are hints of one of the new curbs they put in during renovations I wrote about on my last visit--click here (I'll update that video with some of these pics eventually). Below is a pair of park benches almost shivering in the cold, and at bottom is Sejong Daewang, Great King Sejong of the Joseon dynasty, Korea's most revered leader, stoic and scholarly despite the conditions.



Finally, a pair of shots that illustrate the serene beauty of this park, even though it is located smack in the middle of Seoul's hectic Central Business District:



I am wondering about something, though: in all my wanderings through the snow--and this is our third treatment so far this winter--I have yet to see a single snowman!