Wednesday 31 October 2018
Wandering in Seoul
It is a great day to wander around Seoul, cool but not cold, an autumn day with bright blue skies. This area is of Gyeongbokgung is the heart of commercial Seoul, government and corporate centers located here in their highly spectacular glass and steel, coldly chilling, monolithic structures. Everywhere you look, it is much the same, vast crosswalks among shiny light-gray blocks that make their statement of overwhelming indifference to the human soul.
But if you got into the small alleys that feed off of the freeway streets, variety abounds and Seoul becomes interesting. Custom prevails in some of these older shops. Meat was being grilled outside of a small older looking restaurant, but when I tried to eat there, the owner told me that he did not serve single customers; there had to be two at the table. I had heard that that was a custom here, but it worked well for me. A block away was a new smart looking sushi restaurant. I am still having troubles converting currencies, so it is just as well that I do not know how much I spent on that delicious lunch.
Chicken feet are available as are French pastries at a typical Paris-type bakery.
It must have been some kind of festival day because many young women were in the street wearing the traditional Korean court costume, and many shops featured the costumes for both adults and children. I had the good luck to see a young man dressed up, for usually one sees only the girls in costume. People were friendly.
