Video of our trip: Part 3

Side note: Nights have gotten better. Its still a struggle and take tons of time ot get her calm and asleep, but there are signs its getting better.


Our plane didn't leave Seoul until 5pm, so we went to a nearby palace earlier in the day before leaving. She did great and loved being outside! (That was the palace where we went on the Japanese tour!)


We wanted Addison to have some play time before boarding the plane, so we found this great little playroom in the Seoul airport. While there, we ran into two other Holt babies being escorted home! They were adorable!


Addison did SO wonderfully on on trip home! We were so happy this went so smoothly!

Random observations about Seoul

Here is the Kia headquarters building in downtown Seoul. Other major industries in Korea are Samsung and Hyundai.

Many of the toilets were quite elaborate! See the rectangular button on the left side? There were a variety of options on those buttons such as "flushing sound" and many other cleaning options! It was really funny. I didn't know what to push!

The shopping in Seoul was simply incredible!!! There were little shops like this one everywhere; on the side walk, in the subway...everywhere. They sold t-shirts, coats, tons of shoes, and many other things at these little shops. I would never make it to work on time if I lived there! (...and I'd be broke because I LOVED all the shoppping. It was amazing)

Other observations:

• The Koreans are very well-dressed people. I've never seen so many people wearing heels!
• Very, very few Koreans are overewieght.
• Korean stores always had incredible customer service!!! (amazing!!)
• The Koreans were very polite and helpful
• The city, airport, and subway were all very, very clean, but we could never find a trashcan?!
• Pop is very hard to find and when you do find it, it's expensive. (I did miss Diet Coke!)
  

A Korean stop sign near our hotel. I just thought it was interesting!

Our first family day! (4/2/10 in Seoul)

We had time to kill before our 5pm flight so we walked over to Changdeokgung Palace. It was much bigger than the other palace and more impressive. We showed up at 10:30, but discovered that you can only take guided tours. The only tour starting at 10:30 was the Japanese tour, so we grabbed an English guide book and toured the palace with the Japanese group!! It was hysterical!
Taking a break!! She LOVES to be "worn" in that carrier!

The King's throne in the throne hall.

Here we are with the Japanese tourists.

Addie & I at the palace

The entrance to the palace.

Addie in her favorite holder!

Addie playing at our hotel room.

Daddy feeding her a bottle.

Sweetness!

She loved this pink rubber ducky. It sqeeked and she loved biting it...like she is here.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Long ago, these statues were placed out side of towns & villages to scare away evil spirits.

Korean school children. (Probably high school students)

Me as an ancient Korean soldier!

Touring Seoul

Today we went our guided tour of Seoul. We had our own tour guide who went by the name of "Helen."
Eating more Korean food for lunch.

Insadong Street was a great street full of shops and restaurants.

Burger King in Seoul.

On the City bus in Seoul

The YMCA in downtown Seoul

The citu bus ride.

A book store similar to Barnes & Noble (it even had a Starbucks)

A shopping Center in Seoul. It had 8 floors! It was great!

Seeing Seoul!

Eating traditional Korean food with chop sticks!

Here was out whole meal. We had no idea what we were eating. (we knew there was seafood involved) We had no idea how to eat it, and there were no forks!!! The lady at the restaurant showed us how to combine all of it to make a meal, and what to use as dip. It was good lunch!

As you can see, we sat on the floor on a square, blue pillow and left our shoes at the door. My husband was a little big for that small table!!

A backstreet in Seoul. Yes, this was street, despite the fact that it looks like a bike path!

A plaza overlooking the city

We spent a good protion of the morning navigating our way through Seoul using the Subway system. We weren't very fast, but we never got lost! It was really fun exploring the city. We did find a great store called e-mart (like a small wal-mart) where I spent nearly $8 on deoderant. (YIKES!)

Here we are buying our Subway Tickets. This machine had an "English" option. When we bought our return tickets, the machines were strictly in Korean, and we were completely lost, but we were saved by a very nice Korean woman who spoke English and she helped us buy the right tickets so we could get back to the Hotel.