Out and About

On Monday, Jason had the day off (a comp day from having to work all day last Sunday).

In between my dentist appointments (sigh), we headed to Itaewon to run some money exchanging errands and just walk around. The weather was great, sunny and low 50's so it was the perfect day to be out and about. You never can tell around here what the weather will be, so it was nice to have some decent weather for Jason's day off.

Itaewon is an area of Seoul adjacent to the Post, known for a variety of Western businesses and restuarants (Outback, Hard Rock, English Pubs, Crocs store). There are many Korean businesses thrown in the area as well, but all in all, its a more tourist friendly area. It's the area of town that I could find a good knock of designer bag if that was my thing.

Itaewon is also where our money exchange bank is. It has the best rates around, so we take our rent money (in US dollars) and go exchange it in Itaewon into Korean Won.

We hopped the subway, made one train exchange, and found ourselves in Itaewon in just about 15 minutes.

Jason, at a Global ATM machine (we cant use just any ATM machine, only special one designated for International customers)...

We stopped by a little bakery for a snack..

A Rotiboy is a hot bun, often filled with some delight. Ours was filled with butter. Yes, BUTTER. And it was GOOOOOD and I felt no guilt about it either.

Since it was our first time trying a Rotiboy, we only got one and shared it. Big mistake. Next time I think we should get one of their big boxes that hold a dozen hot butter filled rolls. Yuuuummmm.

Jackson was not impressed with the Rotiboy, and opted for a little nap in our new Kelty framed back-pack carrier.

(Side tangent: OH MY GOODNESS, I had SUCH a hard time getting this Kelty carrier! No company will ship them to an APO, so I went thru ebay, got a great deal, even emailed the seller in advance to ensure he would ship it to an APO. TWO MONTHS LATER..... Grrrr. At least its everything I had hoped it would be. And it will hold either Emma or Jackson up to 65 lbs!!!! Great for walking around Seoul.)

After our snack, Jason exchanged our money, and we headed back towards to subway, but in no hurry.

Look! A doggie! In Korea! Wearing a cute outfit!

Our next stop, was a bakery (so, we frequent bakeries, you gotta problem with that??) called Paris Crossiante. These bakeries are all over Seoul and they are AMAZING.

I know its probably not the best idea, but they dont keep their delish treats covered up. They are out in the open and you are suppose to grab a tray and a pair of tongs and go around and pick out whatever you want.

We got all of this and an additional sandwich for $9. With the exchange rate in our favor, it is a great time to get out in Korea and spend our money on the Korean economy rather than Post.

We took our bag of goodies and hit the subway to head back home...

(I know that's blurry, but that's the subway sign telling us in Korean and English what stop we are at- in the middle- and what stop is either in front of or behind us.)



Jackson just loves holding on to the subway handles.

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I love being adventurers in the city.