Hi...It's Michael tonight. Jana is wiped out an lying upstairs (possibly already asleep).

Today was our first day just being tourists and we put a lot of miles on our shoes. We started the day sleeping in a little later than the last several. We are each waking up around 4 AM but have been managing to get some more winks before actually starting our days.

After our morning coffee and pastries we loaded onto the fabulous subway and headed toward the center of town. We started our day with a walk on the Cheonggyecheon (stream), a recently restored stream combined with a 6 kilometer path alongside, all through the heart of downtown. It has 22 bridges across it, most of them only pedestrian (which here also includes motorbikes since they can make better time on the sidewalks compared to the crowded streets!). There are also a number of water features along the stream. The day was overcast so not too hot.

From the stream we headed back up the central artists/shopping area in the city, Insa-dong. We had been here just yesterday on our tour, and had a great traditional Korean meal, but had not had any time to shop or really look around. Today (Saturday) the crowds were thick. We saw far more foreigners than we have the previous three days. Even so, they comprise probably no more than 1 or 2 people out of every hundred in the places we have been.


We had another great Korean meal for lunch, this time in a vegetarian (they also serve seafood) restaurant.

When it came time to shop, the most meaningful gift we bought was one for Tae. We stopped at a stamp-making shop, and a women carved a traditional stamp with Tae's Korean name on it. In Korea such stamps are used on all important documents. It was amazing to watch her work and she beautifully packaged the final product. Someday we might find his stamp marking the walls, and we will rethink what a great gift this was, but it will provide a neat connection in his future.


From Insa-Dong we headed south across the Hangang River to the newer part of the city. This area contains hundreds of tall apartment complexes, which is part of what makes Seoul one of the densest cities in the world. We visited the national center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, arriving on Schofield-Isensee time just after the 5 PM performance had begun (It was really from waiting for Tae's stamp). We were seated in the theater after the first performance and saw 7 more instrument, singing and dance performances spanning the last six or seven centuries. They were fascinating in their breadth and artistry.

Coming back to the hotel it was trying to spit rain again...Tomorrow is supposed to be wet. We headed for an interesting restaurant in our guidebook, but could not find it. We ended up in a little noodle bar where we each struggled to each our noodle soup with chopsticks!

Tomorrow we try to do indoor things (National War Museum) and indoor shopping at the Dongdaemun market.