After the crazy flight experience leaving the U.S., I wound up losing a day of my time in Seoul, Korea. Instead, Continental put all of us up at the Nikko Narita Hotel at the airport in Japan for one night, and put me on the first flight out to Seoul the next morning.
It was so nice to finally get to my destination and check-in to the hotel which would be the place where I could rest my head for the next few days...ahhhhhhh! :) The hotel was the
Grand Intercontinental Seoul- an elegant, very nice and extremely clean hotel. (Don't judge it by the outside, the inside is much nicer than you would expect looking at the bland exterior). The Grand Intercontinental Seoul is located in the
Gangnam District- Gangnam means "south of the river". This area is modern and affluent and has wider streets than you'll find elsewhere in Seoul, and it also has a lot of high-end restaurants.
Underneath the Grand Intercontinental Seoul is the
COEX Mall...
The COEX is an enormous underground shopping mall (a.k.a.- a megamall) that has more than 250 stores, places to eat, movie theaters and even a club!
I stayed at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul for two reasons: 1) It is right across the street from where Danny & Lilac's wedding was going to be, and 2) It was going to be one of the few western-style rooms I would get to experience on my two week trip to Asia. The rooms are remodeled in a contemporary style using dark wood. The beds are firm and SO comfortable!
The bathrooms are very spacious- a rarity in Korea.
Believe you me, after sitting around at Newark for 12 and 1/2 hours before finally taking off, sitting on a flight to Japan for 14 hours, sitting on a flight from Japan to Korea for 2 and 1/2 hours, and sitting on a bus from the airport in Incheon to the hotel in Seoul for 80 minutes...all I wanted to do was dive into the bed and not get out for an entire day, but I knew there was so much I wanted to see and do in Seoul, that I headed right out the door, jumped into a cab, and went to
Nam Dae Mun Market.
Nam Dae Mun Market is the oldest and largest traditional market in all of Korea. Here there are vendors that sell clothing, local products, and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.
It's a good idea to bring cash if you want to buy stuff because you can definitely bargain here!
I didn't shop much, but instead found a great little spot to have a quick bite to eat.
This place was filled with locals all pretty much eating the same thing; ramen noodles in broth...
kimchi and vegetables wrapped in rice and seaweed...
and sweet sugar balls for dessert..they taste like zeppoles, but are much more dense...quite good!
The eating didn't stop after this...that night we all met up to go out to one of the best Korean Barbecue restaurants in all of Seoul (I'm not making that up, it's a fact according to Danny & Lilac). I wish I knew the name because it was amazing!
We took off our shoes, sat on the floor, and ate steak cooked in the pit in front of us, liver, soup, salad and drank plenty of
Hite- a Korean beer.
After dinner, the coffee/cafe culture is huge here! We headed to a really cute street called
Shinsa street in the
Sinsa-dong neighborhood where we had the best vanilla lattes and a chocolate waffle with ice cream for dessert.
Lilac and I checked out the stores on Shinsa street- it's lined with great boutiques for clothing, jewelery and accessories (very reminiscent of areas in Soho in NYC).
Stay tuned for Seoul, Korea- Day 2 and my first sashimi experience at the
Noryangjin Fish Market!
Day 3 started off nice and early with a visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Of the five grand palaces built during the Joseon Dynasty, Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest and most important one.
It is said to have had 500 buildings when it was first built, but during an invasion, the palace was burned. (It was later restored).
From there, you must stroll through Bukchon Village. Bukchon Village is picturesque! Bukchon has been a traditional residential district for more than 600 years of the history of Seoul.
The village lies between Gyeongbokgung Palace on one side and Changdeok Palace on the other. This village has the largest cluster of privately owned traditional Korean wooden homes or hanok. It's so cool to stroll down the tiny alleyways here and see the beautifully restored homes and courtyards.
Along the way, they were selling Duk Boki (Korean spicy rice cake) on the street. Everyone eats this in Korea, so I had to try it...it was awesome (spicy) but delicious! 
Then, into a cab and over to Insadong street in the Insadong neighborhood. Insadong is a traditional street that ties together the "culture of the past and the present". Insadong really has a great atmosphere- yes it feels a little created for the tourists, but it's not really that bad. 
It has a mixture of historical and modern- with part of it being a traditional market for antiques and artworks, and the other part being filled with trendy restaurants and shops. 
A "MUST DO" along Insadong is to stop and have tea at one of the many tea houses here. I headed to the Tea Museum for some traditional tea and the experience of sipping it in an outside garden area.
I tried Lotus tea and Chrysanthemum tea. Both are excellent- so soothing to drink.
From there over to Itaewon area. This area is just like 34th street in NYC. (It's filled with street vendors selling junky trinkets- I could have totally skipped this part).
For lunch, I headed to Kraze Burger- they are all over Korea.
I ordered the chili cheese fries...
...and a hot KB burger. It was great! This place looks like it would be a fast food joint, but it's sit down, and there's waiter service. 
Now to the wedding!!! 6 p.m.- and Danny and Lilac's wedding began (right on time!) The wedding happened in three parts essentially. The first part was the actual ceremony (which only lasted for about a 1/2 hour)...next was the dinner portion of the wedding...
...then after dinner, Danny and Lilac invited us to the private Korean wedding ceremony where they wear traditional garments and bow to their elders who give them money in return.
Here's a picture of me dressed up at the wedding (I had such a hard time deciding what to wear)!
Danny and Lilac had the most beautiful wedding ever, and I was so happy to get to experience it in person. Danny and Lilac are such an amazing couple...CONGRATULATIONS!!! It was sad to say goodbye to them, but now starts the Japan leg of the trip...so stay tuned!
