Short posts
Not much to post today, but here’s a tile mosaic at an elementary school, flanked by a kickass bicycle and a scooter with far too many empty bottles in its basket (I imagine a teacher who needed a lot of caffeine today).
The other photo is an inlaid relief of that same school—a nice touch. -S 🇹🇼
Scott has a pretty substantial upper respiratory infection, so he visited a local medical clinic.
Walked in, third in line, took 9 mins to be seen, got 5 prescriptions (filled in-house), paid NT$805 (less than our $25 copay in US) which included a “public burden fee” and was gone in 25 mins. -S 🇹🇼
Old versus new.
(I tried out one of these robots yesterday at the museum: youtu.be/Uz18snYjQ…) -S 🇰🇷
Yup, of COURSE this would be when we were visiting! -J🇰🇷
We had a lovely chat with our taxi driver on the way to the airport. He had Google translate running, so he would speak in Korean and it would translate to English for us. And Vice-versa for him. So much easier to communicate than when I first started traveling! -J 🇰🇷
We managed to be in Seoul during what may be the worst snow storm they have ever had in November. Without any winter clothes! We have been getting numerous safety alerts on our phone about the snow crisis. But it made for some pretty pictures when we went to the National Museum of Korea. -J 🇰🇷
We managed to find some good beer at Chillhops Brewing, a welcome respite from the cold. -S 🇰🇷
I kid you not, this is an actual logo for a brewery I visited here in Seoul. -S 🇰🇷
It’s a winter wonderland here in Seoul -S 🇰🇷
Who is the jerk who ordered all this snow?! We definitely didn’t bring enough clothes with us ❄️🌨️🥶 -J 🇰🇷
And then we woke up to snow… 🥶 -S 🇰🇷
A brewery taproom hidden behind a vending machine? Sounds fun! Unfortunately, the beer was awful. -S 🇰🇷
Looking forward to trying out “happy” tomorrow morning. I’ll probably pass on “cow” though… 😂 -S 🇰🇷
We made sure to stop at Craic House to mark off another country on our quest to drink a Guinness at an Irish Pub in 32 different countries (this makes 14/32). It’s also the first Irish pub I’ve visited since my dad passed away 🫤 -S 🇰🇷
Well played, Subway. -S 🇰🇷
This place is available for everyone. -S 🇰🇷
After the cathedral, we wandered some of the streets of Seoul, taking it all in. The pastries looked fabulous, but we were still full from breakfast. -J 🇰🇷
We also visited the historic Myeongdong Cathedral, just around the corner from our hotel. -S 🇰🇷
Sungnyemun Gate (aka Namdaemun/South Gate) was one of the main gates of the Seoul City Wall, the fortress that encircled Hanyang, the capital of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910).
Originally constructed in 1398(!), it’s been damaged and repaired many times since—but remains a national treasure -S 🇰🇷
Greetings from Seoul!
We have two full days here, our first “stopover” of the trip. Given the cold weather and our expectation that we’ll be back again in the next few years, our plan is to ease into the trip with a relaxed visit and a slower pace than usual. -S 🇰🇷
