I even got a view overlooking a hanok village.
For dinner, we ate at a small but satisfying Italian restaurant nearby. I love Italian food. I forgot exactly what everything was, but it was delicious.
The last tourist spot I got to check off my list was the N Seoul Tower. If you know me, then you know I'm really a night person and I love city views at night, so this place was a must for me.
If you watch Korean dramas, then you might recognize this popular location. It's the setting in Boys Over Flowers when Gu Jun Pyo and Jan Di get stuck and spend the night in the cable car (episode 4, he tells her to meet him at Namsan Tower). The Namsan Mountain stairway is the setting for the final scene in My Lovely Samsoon and the Teddy Bear Museum also served as location for Princess Hours. SHINee also shot on location here in their show Yunhanam when they first debuted. *squeals*
The tower is known for its many, many Love Locks. That is couples, friends, etc. buy and write special messages on padlocks and leave them on the chain-linked fence as a symbol of everlasting love (or friendship).
The funny thing is people don't just use locks, but chain other things like cell phone cases. I guess more room to write their special hopes on for lifelong true love. ^_^
I do think it is a bit cheesy but it's no worse than celebrating Valentine's Day, and the location is nice especially for dates and couples. The tower has restaurants etc. The view from the observatory is stunning, even if you don't go inside to the top of the tower.
Sadly, my camera didn't do justice to the view but it was beautiful.
There are these oddly shaped benches which probably were supposed to resemble heart shapes but to me, it just looks like it broke under my weight, haha.
There's also the Teddy Bear Museum as I mentioned earlier, which I didn't visit but I did pop into the gift shop for some drive-by camera whoring.
I walked the stairway up to the tower and then rode the cable car down. The cable car wasn't as nice as I'd thought it'd be so I don't have any pictures from that.
Now we've come to the end of my adventures in Seoul. There were still a lot of places I wanted to visit but I simply didn't have time. My trip had its obvious ups and downs, but overall I really enjoyed just exploring and experiencing a different culture, and getting a glimpse of how others live. I hope I'll be back in Korea again someday. =)
