Day 3 - Exploring Seoul - Lotte World Tower, auarium, a few other places I set the alarm for 9 am but woke up a few minutes before. Cool. More Zone bars, taking in the views, and figuring out what to do today. Several friends have given suggestions, and I've also googled 'things to do in Seoul'. There is a supertall tower, about 1,800 feet if I read it right, that's worth checking out. And it has an aquarium too. The bathroom in the apartment has a 3" step up on the way out, and I nail my right foot on it pretty good. Big purple bruise under middle two toes. That'll be fun to walk on, but it is what it is.
But first, to check out the neighborhood. I need to find some wine to supplement the Zone bars, and generally get my bearings. The sculpture downstairs still baffles me - a cape-wearing bipedal bull/hippo? It is cool in its own way, whatever it is.
There is another, more abstract, sculpture at the other end of the building.
Crossing the street from the hotel/residential highrises near the train station, the neighborhood turns low-rise residential. It's cool to see.
A few veggie shops, convenience stores, eateries, etc. There is a convenience store in the actual building I'm in, and they have wine, so since it's just an elevator ride away that will be my go-to for the trip. Overall prices seem to be about 3/4 of what they are in US, when translated to dollars.
One thing that struck me is that the city is remarkably clean, and is also remarkably lacking in public trash receptacles. How it's kept this way is a mystery. I do walk by what seems to be an anti-littering CCTV camera... But ironically at the base of it is the only place I see litter. Out of spite, I guess?
A roughly one-hour loop around the neighborhood. Wine procured, now back up to the apartment to drop it off and decide what's next.
The Lotte World Tower and aquarium are the next desination. Google tells me to walk to a different subway station so I do.
In addition to the tower and aquarium, Lotte World is a massive subterranean shopping center complete with a Roman fountain.
There are no crowds to visit the observation deck, although the staging area is clearly built to accommodate them. I just walk through the deserted staging halls. The Tour Card gets me a third off the price, too.
Arriving uptop the views are impressive. The observation area takes up several floors, with a restaurant on the top one. Signs at the ticket area said something about 'crossign a bridge' but I don't seem to find that feature. Either it's closed or I didn't look hard enough. Either way, the view is worth the visit. This is the third and the tallest super-skyscraper I've been to the top of, after World Trade Center in New York (back when it was still standing) and Sears Tower in Chicago.
I go up to the restaurant to have a glass of champagne, just to toast the world.
The champagne ends up being the only unreasonably priced thing on the entire trip - KW35,000 or about $30. They insist on me paying upfront for it. No wonder. But whatever, I only do this once and it's worth it in the grand scheme of things, for the experience. It's also not bad. I take my time consuming the beverage and the view. Might be cool to come back here at night.
I don't often take selfies, but when I do I always look like this.
Next stop the aquarium downstairs, quite a ways down the subterranean mall. Turns out it is geared mostly towards children (as most aquariums seem to be these days), but there are still some cool things to see.
Some more meandering about, a two-line subway ride back to the apartment, and it's dark by the time I get 'home'. The bruised foot is uncomfortable but I can manage for the rest of the trip. All part of the experience. Time to relax, open the wine, go through the day's pictures and make the social media posts so my mom knows I'm alive and well :) I wake up at 5 am when the daylight-readable billboards outside trun on. They light up the place pretty well. Technology is impressive.
While I'm up I do a few swipes on the Bumble dating app - not really looking for a romantic date, just some local guidance and a restaurant recommendation. We'll see how that goes. No expectations.
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