Seoul Tower

Like most mornings, I wake up an unknown amount of time after Tim and ask him if he wants to do anything in particular. The first thing he mentioned was Seoul Tower, so that's exactly what we set out to see.

In the distance....

I had a feeling that this was going to be a long walk.

We were soon outside of the city area and had come to a long set of stairs. I couldn't tell at that time how far up they went, and I could only assume we were no where near the tower.

Looking back.

However many meters up, there was a landing with exercise equipment. I was impressed by the variety.

Bench press. Later on, we passed another exercise park with a legitimate weight set for the presses. How do you feel about your gym membership now?

Sweet, at least we have an idea of how far away we are.

At this point we were "out of the wood work." There was a long jogging track, paved with rubber like what you would find at a high school stadium. The yellow strip in the middle has bumps so that the blind can follow the path. These same yellow paths are found throughout the entire city, on sidewalks, and in the subway stations.

High and higher we went.

In the warmer parts of the year this area probably has a lot of activity at night.

A little over a kilometer to go... Up.

Seoul Tower still visible through the trees.

These... stairs... never... end....

The city is far below.

We finally arrived to a resting place. "Photo Island" offered a great vantage point for photographing the city.

Panorama for your viewing pleasure. I will come back to this place at night and take the same shot. 

So close....

Taking another break. Some vending machines and a bathroom about 300 meters from the tower.

I don't think my friend Erik would be very satisfied with the serving size of Korean Mountain Dew.

I tried some Pocari Sweat. It was like a mildly sweet gatorade, very refreshing, very small. I could have probably consumed 4 of them.

Finally at the base of the tower.

かわいいね〜

Some directions on the floor.

We purchased our tickets to go to the observation deck at the top of the tower. Three or four projectors entertained us as we waited for the elevators to arrive.

The observation deck is 360 degrees of Seoul viewing. Windows, windows, everywhere.

You can see how far we walked.

On the top floor, every window has a few major cities and their distance form the tower in that direction. This window faces the United States. Other windows had places such as Moscow, Paris, and the North Pole.

The Tower's shadow.

Feeling as entertained as possible by the sheer height of the tower we decided to head home.

We were greeted by a traditional Korean dance demonstration on the plaza.

... Followed by a weapons demonstration and some choreographed fighting.  

We took a different route back to the hotel and passed by a cartoon museum.

There were some robot statues on the roof.

and one right in front of us. Thank goodness I brought my 18mm lens. This guy was probably over 4 meters tall.

My legs were definitely feeling the day's walk, but the distance travelled afforded us the opportunity to see a great deal of the city. I can't wait to go back out to "Photo Island" and get some pictures of the city at night. Thanks again for reading.

~Let's get lost. 잘가