My last full day in Korea was spent in Gyeongju. We started by checking out of our hanok and writing thank you notes before walking to get breakfast. We found a charming café decorated with cat figurines (and a live cat) that had balcony seating. We enjoyed our beverages in the sun watching the activities below. What a gorgeous day! And the best was yet to come.

The Golden City, Gyeongju, is a UNESCO-designated city and one of the most popular destinations in South Korea. We spent the weekend exploring the city seeing ancient structures, burial mounds, and temples. As my daughter says, "in Korea we eat, walk, eat, walk..." My version is eat, recycle, walk, repeat. I so enjoyed eating different foods, was impressed by all things being reused or recycled, and loved being outdoors and walking everywhere!

Rick Steves once said, "I’ve learned that eating in Europe is sightseeing for your taste buds." I feel the same way about eating in Korea. Today was a culinary delight! My day started with croffle (croissant waffle), fruit, and café latte. For lunch we took a short bus ride to get spicy chicken dakgalbi, followed by a strawberry bingsu, which was somewhere between sherbet and shaved ice. Simply delicious! 

It was a cold and rainy day so I decided to grab an umbrella and explore more of Eumseong. I went back to Seolseong Park and discovered you could walk up into the Gyeonghojeong Pavilion! Just seeing the artwork on the ceiling made the trip worthwhile because it was so beautiful! Behind the pavilion is a five-story brick pagoda that was moved to the park from an old temple site in 1934. 

I went on another solo journey, this time to explore Danyang's skywalk and surrounding area. After an early breakfast at the 7-11 and a taxi ride to the train station, I had a few minutes to make sure I was on the right train going in the correct direction. I could have ended up anywhere!

This morning I had breakfast in Caroline's favorite café while she was at school. It was decorated with plants, China cup and plate collections, and comfortable chairs. The lady who ran the cafe was lovely and her smile made me feel welcome. It was a great way to start my day!

On our final morning in Seoul, we got up for a sunrise view of the Han River before having breakfast downstairs at the hotel. We hit a snag with the bus app, so we had to take a detour by the bus terminal to purchase tickets to Caroline's town. If we hadn't gotten tickets, we would have had a very, very expensive taxi ride home! Once we had bus tickets in our hands, we set out to explore the river in daytime and a nearby park. 

The length of time between cherry blossoms blooming and their petals dropping is very short. For once, my timing was perfect! These photos cannot do justice to the beauty of these trees. They are breathtaking! I was so fortunate to spend the day with Caroline (and her friends) walking along Seokcheon Lake under the trees. Though, it was very crowded!

I left South Carolina after lunch on Wednesday and arrived in Seoul at 4:30 Friday morning. The actual travel time was about 25 hours, and fortunately I had pleasant flights and seat companions. There were numerous families flying with very young children, who were surprisingly good little travelers.

On our last morning we had coffee and walked around Seoul. Of course, we had to visit the Apple Store. Caroline made a purchase and I made friends with the Apple associate. Then we caught the subway, which was a direct ride from our hotel to Incheon Airport. This airport is huge!!! We had another delicious meal of bibimbap before checking my bag.

For the final leg of our journey we took the KTX high speed train (first class) from Busan to Seoul. We were greeted by the worst rainfall and flooding here in more than 80 years. Yikes! We still ventured out for dinner to celebrate Kayleigh’s birthday. Then we took the subway back to our hotel.

It has been my privilege on this trip to meet and talk with English teachers from America and Australia as well as native Korean elementary school teachers. They are currently on mid-year break, which includes teaching summer camps just before and after vacation.