Seoul Day 3: Gangnam and Ikseon-dong

 We started off our day by taking the subway to Gangnam, which is the upscale part of Seoul (well known from the song "Gangnam Style"). The main reason we went to Gangnam is because that's where the Kukkiwon Headquarters in located, and since Pumpkin and I do taekwondo, we were interested in going. It was neat to just walk around the building, but they also had a museum there. Apparently, they used to do demonstrations, but it seems they don't anymore, but it was still an enjoyable experience. The the display case below, they have examples of a modern chest guard and an old, traditional bamboo chest guard.

After this, we walked through Gangnam to visit the Line Friends store, which was on our bucket list, as it has some characters that we like. We each did a little shopping there.

We took the subway to a cute cafe that we had wanted to visit, a little closer to our apartment. It is loosely based on the movie My Neighbor Totoro. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was so lovely and whimsical.

Later in the evening, we walked through a charming, but bustling neighborhood called Ikseon-dong. There was another cafe there that we wanted to visit. It was hard to find, hidden in an alleyway, but was absolutely worth it! The first picture below is the entrance to the cafe. The desserts were tasty, and the atmosphere was beautiful, and included lots of water features and natural elements, both inside and outside. One thing about cafe culture in Korea that has taken some getting used to, is that you are supposed to find your table first, leave your personal items there, and then go up to the counter to get your food. It's hard for us to understand as Americans, but it's safe to leave your things at the table here!

Here are some photos of what Ikseon-dong looks like.

Finally, we headed back to our neighborhood, and picked up some street food on our way home. We got some hotteok, a cinnamon and nut-filled pancake like treat, which was a bucket-list item for Pumpkin. We also got these delicious egg breads.