spring in Seoul Archives | In Some Places

This weekend we braved the Korean festival crowds to head to Yeouido, an island in the center the Han River in the middle of Seoul for the annual Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival.

I love cherry blossoms! I love spring! I don’t like moving in an uncontrollable direction as the crowd pushes me forward. Luckily we got there early in the afternoon and avoided the really crazy crowds. By the time we left around 4:30 PM we were just being shoved in the general direction of the subway station. But before that we got to enjoy the floating petals and people watching. Lots of selfie sticks, lots of flowers, and lots of loving couples strolling under the spring blossoms.

How to Get There:

Line 5 Yeouinaru Stn. Exit 1, walk 15 minutes
Line 9 National Assembly Stn. Exit 6, walk 5 minutes

On April 5th Ryan’s sister, Kaite, who was on her way to travel in Thailand, had a 12-hour layover here. We met her in the morning for a quick jaunt around Seoul.

After meeting Kaite way too early for Seoul (which usually wakes up around 10 o’clock in the morning, including the opening of Starbucks), we started near Yeouido Park, thinking we could catch some views of the cherry blossoms. But without proper research somehow never made our way to the actual park. Instead, we walked around the Han river, Kaite getting to experience the strange blend of a K-pop show and foot race.

After a quick wander around the area, we caught a cab to Namsan, where we did find a lovely park full of cherry blossoms. Two years ago Kaite visited us in DC when the blossoms were blooming, and came just in time again this year. [Read more…]