Seoul Day 1: Yeouido Park

 After a long night of traveling, we arrived at our Airbnb in Seoul around lunch time. We are located in a cute, quiet residential neighborhood, so there aren't any tourist attractions within walking distance, but that also means we can have a more authentic, local experience. After getting settled in our apartment, we walked a short distance (down a very steep hill) to the convenience store. The girls were thrilled to get convenience store food, because we had learned about it before coming here. Here they are with their strawberry milks. We also got ramen, sausage sticks, and baked eggs (similar to hard boiled eggs).

After lunch and a brief rest, we hit the subway and visited Yeouido Park, which is located along the Han River, and is well known for its cherry blossoms. Today was the last day of the cherry blossom festival, so there were a lot of food vendors at the park. The park was very crowded, and finding food was a little overwhelming. However, it was really nice to sit on the grass with our food and enjoy the beautiful weather. Not being city-dwellers normally, I think we all benefited from an opportunity to touch grass, literally!

The spiral potatoes seen above, also called tornado potatoes, were seriously the best potatoes we've ever eaten. We ordered one initially, and then went back for three more because the girls and I each wanted our own. The potatoes are spiralized, fried, and rolled in seasoning. We also tried teokbokki, a very popular rice cake dish. It's very spicy and chewy. Pumpkin tried some, but found that it was way too spicy for her. All in all, it was an interesting cultural experience with great food! I'll leave you with a photo of my subway-riding pros!