This morning the Louies enjoy their complimentary breakfast buffet at Voco, a perk for having achieved Diamond status with IHG. Franc has also partaken the same buffet, but he paid 45000 Korean Won. The rest of us find convenience store food. The order of the morning is to find a money exchange and for Teddy to retrieve his backpack. Had his backpack not turn up, it would not have been a disaster. He only had snacks in it. The pickup location is on our way to our first sightseeing activity, Seoul Tower, a sight that some of us can see from the window in our room. It's overcast but forecast to be 68 degrees. Mike, Norman, Eugene and DeAnne are wearing shorts. A couple of blocks from Voco we find the money exchange.
Some of us go into the convenience store across the street to load money into our Tmoney cards. While Teddy and Norman go to get Teddy's backpack some of the group sit and wait. Others walk across the street and check out an optical shop, Davich, for eyeglasses. Lisa finds a potential frame. We decide to check out other optical shops before making a decision. Teddy gets an intact backpack back. We walk up towards Seoul Tower, stopping at a ticket counter inside a building to buy tickets for the cable car to get to the base of the tower. 
Since it's overcast we decide not to get a combination ticket to go up to the observation tower. At the elevator entrance we wait to board. The elevator door refuses to open for several minutes despite efforts of those in and outside the elevator.
Rather than wait, some of us walk to the next level in order to board the cable cars. 
The cable car is a short ride to get to the base of the tower. 
At the base we take a group photo in front of the guard and then check out the views.
Lovelocks are everywhere. 
DeAnne gave us all locks that she had personally engraved.
Lunch is at Owl Cutlet where we had dined the first time we visited the tower in 2022. 
At the Panda Garden we had hoped to take a group photo in front of the big panda bear, Lin Lin. 
There was an ambulance parked right in front of it so we were unable to do it. Later, after we had taken photos of the pandas on the steps, we witnessed the reason why the ambulance was there. An older couple, the gentleman being wheeled on an ambulance bed and his wife beside the bed came out of an exit. They were assisted by a couple of medical personnel. At first I thought the man had suffered a medical emergency until the wife posed with the husband for a photo before he was put into the ambulance. Her countenance was happy and she adjusted the cap that was on her husband's head. Clearly whatever caused him to be in the ambulance bed had not happened this morning. This wife must have made special arrangements for them to visit Seoul Tower with medical assistance. On our last visit to Japan with the Gees, we witnessed a proposal at the Umeda Sky Tower. Today was the first time I have ever witnessed a different display of love. Up next was supposed to be a visit to the Bukchon Hanok Cultural village but it was an hour train ride away so we decided to go to the nearby Namsangol Hanok Village which we had visited on our first trip. There was a kimchi festival taking place. 
Our visit was just long enough for some of our group to check out the various types of residences in the village. 
Then it was time to head for the highlight of the day; the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Gyeongbok Palace is one of five palaces in Seoul. It is the largest Korean palace and housed many of the kings from the Joseon dynasty. If you don't like visiting historical places, this palace should still be on your must see list when visiting Seoul. The original palace dates back to the 1300's and now after restoration there are about 500 buildings over almost 100 acres. There is a small fee to visit the palace, but there are three ways to get in free: be young, be old, or wear a traditional Hanbok. Twice a year only, for a limited period of time, (Fall- September 11 through October 27th) and for a limited number of people – this gem of the Joseon Dynasty, is opened to the public for night viewing. Our group decided that it would be fun to dress up in traditional Korean clothes from the Joseon Dynasty. We rented our outfits from the company Gigibebe using online travel company, Klook, before leaving for our trip. 
Our rental cost about $13 US. We arrive near the Hanbok rental in time to grab dinner. Everyone around us were walking around wearing beautiful hanboks. The streets were lined with hanbok rental stores.
We choose a pizza and pasta place. Teddy practiced his Korean with the matronly server, calling her halmoni, Korean for grandmother. He then thought he may have insulted her, but she replied, that it was ok, she was a grandmother. Two long tables were pushed together for our big group and we sat in a room with a big window that was open. 
Teddy and Eugene could watch people walk past in front of the them.
Pretty girls dressed in hanboks walked past and Teddy could be heard to say “hao fancy wah!” which put a bounce in the girls steps and a smile on their faces. All the pastas and pizzas were delicious. 
The cook made the wrong item for the Gees so they were the last to receive a pizza. The cook/owner came and gave us small shot size cups and poured a pink colored drink. 
It was mildly sweet and refreshing. Janet asked him what is was so he brought out the bottle. It's a tea made with omija. Translated directly from Korean, omija means five-flavor fruit, a nickname that's meant to capture the berry's complex flavors — sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and pungent. This fruit is traditional to Korean culture and medicine. 
We then hurried across the alley to the hanbok rental. 
We had booked our rental for 6:00 for two hours. At the time the 11 of us showed up there were many people renting hanboks in the shop already. The matronly staff lady checking in our Klook reservations was clearly harried when we showed up in mass. The shop was 16 by 20 feet. Racks of hanboks filled the space. There was only space between the aisles of costumes for one person. 
Girls were directed to one side and guys to another side. There definitely wasn’t enough staff to explain how sizes worked so it was everyone for themselves. There were girls everywhere and we were all trying to look for hanboks in the same area, and matching the dress with a jacket. It was a bewildering process since there were only a couple of staff members to help and they were occupied with other customers. As we girls were bustling about the older staff lady sized up Mike and had him put back his selection. She picked out the right size and gave him his items to put on. He could put them on over his clothes so he didn’t need a dressing room but with no space to put it on near the men’s aisle he came to the girls aisle to put on his outfit. He also had his bulky backpack on him. There hadn’t been room for us to look for our hanboks when it was just the girls so I did my best to shoo him away. “Why are you in our area?” Why aren’t you in the guy’s dressing area?” I asked him. “There’s no dressing room.” he said. By then Lisa had found her hanbok and with the two dressing rooms occupied she commandeered a narrow and short hallway in front of the bathroom to start changing. As she started to remove her top I held up the hanbok I had in my hand and used it as a curtain to give her privacy. We didn’t know that the staff was going to help the girls get dressed until the staff started directing all the girls to wait for the dressing room. Then one by one they took us in, closed the curtains and put on the dress for us. We are asked if we want the underskirt to make the dress poof out for extra oomph for a couple of dollars. We all said no. The dress has straps that are adjustable to make the skirt length fit. It has a tie so the skirt can wrap around your upper chest. When the lady was tightening the straps she pulled it pretty tight. I tried to loosen it a bit. To put the short jacket on she asked you to hold both arms out straight back so she can slip it on for you in one motion. The top I chose seemed a bit tight but because everything was so rushed I didn’t want to waste time choosing another one. We still had to wait for them to do our hair. As we waited for the one hair stylist to fix our hair we chose a fancy handbag. Janet had the longest hair so she chose a single three strand braid. Three of us with medium length hair had our hair from the front and side pulled into a 3 strand braid that was decorated with a gold ribbon. DeAnne's short hair called for a dressy headband. The guys had been ready for awhile now and finally we were all set to stroll to the palace feeling like we were immersed in Korean culture. It would have been even more regal had Teddy worn a Joeson hat but there was none that fit his big head; as least that’s what he tells us. We strolled across the street to the palace. 
The moon overhead was full. 
It added to the magical feeling of visiting a palace bathed in beautiful light. 
The guys stood more stately and we ladies felt like princesses. 
We spent the next hour visiting the palace grounds. 
It was an extremely popular place so it was very difficult to get the best vantage point for some of the buildings. Some of our group decided just to stay behind the crowds.
We had some fun with the lights around the palace. 
As we headed out we took a few more group photos. 
Our departure was timed for the return of the hanbok rental at 9. DeAnne had hoped that she could get Teddy to don a hat for one photo before returning his outfit but he had already returned it by the time she caught up to him. 
The halmoni server from Pizza Pasta cafe saw our group as we were stepping out of the hanbok rental. As we were bidding her goodbye she let us know that she owned the souvenir shop next to the cafe as well. It was closed but she was nice enough to go back inside and turn on the lights to let us see the merchandise. She bought out trinkets but unfortunately nothing that any of us had interest in buying. I didn't feel as if her earnestness in trying to sell us her products was aggressive or pushy so had there been something of interest to buy I would have done so to support her.
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This featured blog entry was written by Helen K. from the blog South Korea and Japan.
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