Seoul Lotte Tower

I'm spending my winter vacation/Seollal holiday in Seoul, doing some of those things I never seem to get around to. First up was a visit to the recently completed Lotte Tower, world's sixth tallest building, and the observation deck located therein. A foreigner promotion was on, so the ticket was 18,000W, down from the regular price of 27,000. The building was designed by New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. They also designed the Shanghai World Finance Center, which I visited in 2010.

First, inside the elevator on the way up. It was superfast.


Here are some of the best shots I got.


There was a rotating art display around the inside walls of one floor of the observation deck, featuring artists' homages to Charles Shultz. This one quite took my fancy:





Above is my "kitty", two mouse pads at 4,000W each, and the "framed" photo op was a pricey 15,000.


Next up: World Cup stadium tour, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Tanner Brown Goes Downtown (again)

Downtown was in town this weekend on a visa run. We met up in Itaewon for a late lunch and a brief pub crawl before making our way to Bongcheon for lamb and makgeolli, and then a taxi ride back to Hyochang Park.


We ate brunch in my neighborhood at BonJuk (other than the lamb, I tried to feed him foods he didn't have on his last visit) and did the ultimate tourist thing:


N Seoul Tower.

We made a quick stop at Namdaemun market, where we saw a protest march and TB bought undergarments.


Socks.

We met The Stumbler for dinner in Gangseo-gu Cheong, at our favorite beef place, followed by a couple hours at Luna Bar.


On Sunday, we made a quick circuit of Hyochang Park, including the Tombs of Three Patriots. The museum dedicated to Baek Beom Kim Ku, a crucial figure in Korean resistance to Japanese colonial rule, was open, and I have to say it is well-done and very informative (though it needs more English multimedia).


It was approaching time for his trip to the airport and back to Beijing, but we squeezed in a stop at Ours Blanc, a renowned bakery nearby, and found it deserved its reputation.


Two final pics, one for each of us.


Come again sooner!