Mastering the transportation system in Seoul.

After a great night of sleep and no affects of jet lag we set out to tour Seoul. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the airport so it was easy to catch the train located in the station at the airport. We took the  high speed non stop train and it felt like we were moving at warp speed. Fast and right on time! This is the train arriving into the station.

It was 45 minutes into Seoul from the airport. We enjoyed free wifi and very comfortable seats! 

Getting out of the train station and to our first stop, the bus station, was a bit of a challenge. Signs are in English as well as in Korean but very difficult to understand. After quite a hike and a little frustration we finally made it out of the station. This is the scene when we came out of the train station.  

 Our first order of business; taking a bus tour of the city to see the highlights. We had envisioned an open air type bus with someone  narrating on a loud microphone. You know, like every other big tourist city has. But this bus was enclosed with each seat having headsets. While it was somewhat interesting, we would not do it again. There was a lot of stop and go and unless you got off every stop you didn't see much.

Bill reviewing the route map.

Thrilled on the bus tour!

Seoul's version of a food truck......

We opted for a big bowl of noodles and a beer at a local shop. 

A stop along the way was  the Seoul tower.  We did not get off the bus to tour but it is a national landmark and built on the highest point in Seoul.  Supposedly, it has breathtaking views.  The grounds were covered in blossoming azaleas. 

Next stop, the Changgyeonggung Palace.  This palace was built in the 1400's to serve primarily as a residence for elders of the royal family to live.  For more on the palace, follow this link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changgyeonggung

These two beauties took a selfie with us and we  just had to take their picture.  A lot of people were dressed in costume to tour the palace.  Who knew that was a tradition, sorry we didn't know about that! 

Of course we couldn't go to Seoul without a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe for Andrea to purchase a pin to add to her collection.  

The pin

By this time we also needed a cold beer! 

The Hard Rock is located adjacent to the 123-story Lotte World Tower.  It is 1821 feet tall and is the worlds 5th largest building and the tallest in Korea.  It was just completed in December of 2016 and just opened to the public in April 2017. 

For all you kiddos following this blog, the park outside the tower had the biggest lego land we've ever seen.  There were some really cool designs and it is  free to the public. 

After a very long day, we got back on the train and headed back to the hotel.  Seoul was a very interesting, very populated and a very clean city.  There is no trash and no smoking anywhere (there are special smoking booths located on the street corners for people to smoke in).  Everyone is also very helpful and we felt very welcome.  It was a quick tour and we are glad we took the time to spend a day here. 

As a side note:  While reading this blog, double click on any picture you want to enlarge.