Last Updated on November 12, 2019
Although, a long weekend, it wasn’t long enough. It had been awhile since the hubby and I got the chance to go on a weekend trip, just us two, and Veterans Day Weekend was the perfect opportunity. Our original plan was to go somewhere new in South Korea where we haven’t been—Jeju Island was the idea. Though, the weather was forecasting to be a bit rainy and cold, not the ideal island weather. We opted for another Seoul weekend getaway. Luckily, Seoul is such a large city that it is a great place to go multiple times, yet still see new things and have new experiences.
This weekend, Seoul was having their annual Lantern Festival. We planned to go there on our first evening, but wanted to wait until it was dark out, so we had a few hours to kill. The first plan was to visit the Seoul Tower. A tourist trap, but something we thought would be an awesome experience. It was about 4:00 PM by the time we left our hotel. We had to walk 15 minutes to the subway, take the subway and transfer, then walk another 15 minutes or so to the bottom of Seoul Tower, where you could then take a cable car up to the top. The sub was going to set at about 5:30 PM, so we didn’t have much time. We were practically running to get there once we got off the subway, not to mention it was all uphill. By the time we made it to the cable cars, the line was at least an hour-long wait. We definitely wouldn’t get up there before dark. We decided to hold off until our next trip to Seoul.
After a disappointing start to our weekend, we meandered through Myeongdong to get dinner before heading to the lantern festival. We may have stopped for a pre-dinner hotteok snack (a sweet Korean pancake filled with a brown sugar syrup) from a street cart to share first – we deserved it after our uphill sprint. We found an Indian place to have dinner with some good reviews called Taj. We ordered samosas, chicken tikka masala, and garlic naan. The food was delicious but a little too spicy for my taste. I had to stop midway, as my tongue was on fire. Though, I made up for that later with some Baskin Robbins.
It was time for the Lantern Festival! We weren’t quite sure what to expect but knew it was a big deal, as the event goes on for a majority of the month of November. The festival is set up along the Cheonggyecheon Stream where lantern figurines are situated in the stream for tourists to walk along and enjoy. They had every type of lantern imaginable from cultural lanterns, lanterns of U.S. landmarks (i.e. Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, etc.), to lanterns of Disney movie characters. We only saw half of the stream too, but could have spent another hour or two just walking around to see them all.
My favorite parts of the lantern festival were all the way upstream. There were tents set up under a bridge where you could purchase a lantern boat to assemble yourself and then float down the stream to make a wish. Each lantern was 5,000 won (about $5). It was quite the hassle to assemble, but was a lot of fun. We took our creation to the stream and watched it float away. Afterwards, there was a part of the stream that was sectioned off with just hanging lanterns that you could walk under and reflected in the water. It was beautiful! Although, not much to do beyond looking at all the lanterns, the experience was a great one and I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique weekend activity in South Korea.
The next day, we found an awesome place to have breakfast in Itaewon called Summer Lane. It was a quaint Australian-inspired café tucked behind residential buildings that you had to be looking for, otherwise it would be near impossible to stumble upon. We both ordered a Dirty Chai Tea Latte, which was absolutely delicious – it was a regular chai tea latte with a shot of espresso. Then we split a Sausage Roll, which was minced sausage baked into a crispy croissant, and finished off with our main course of Eggs Benedict. I got the mushroom kind and the hubby ordered one with bacon. Everything was delicious! We will hands-down go back there more regularly when we are in town.
After breakfast, we made our way to Hongdae, where we had pre-purchased tickets to go to the Trick Eye Museum. The day was supposed to be rainy, but it was beautiful and sunny. We held off on the museum until later in the afternoon and spent some time outside grabbing coffee and watching the street performances on Hongdae Street – seriously so amusing to watch!
It was time for the Trick Eye Museum, one of Seoul’s most popular museums to visit. Unsure of what to expect, it made perfect sense once you got inside. Koreans seem to be known for all of the “instagrammable” photo opportunities you can find nearly everywhere! This museum was just that… but on a whole other level. It was really cool, you had an app that you could download and it would make the images on the wall come to life. There were spots where you could take pictures with diagrams telling you where to stand, what to do, or how to edit your photo to make it look like something else. It was definitely an interesting experience but I think once was enough – though, a perfect rainy-day activity!
For the rest of the evening, we decided to spend our time in Gangnam. There was a spot called Devil’s Door I had been wanting to check out that we finally went to. The place is owned by the same company that owns a few New York restaurants, so of course I had to try it out! Devil’s Door was a bit difficult to find, as it’s situated behind a bus station, but the place was great! In cities, it can sometimes be hard to find places large enough for bigger groups, but this is the perfect spot for something like that. Not only a brewery, but American-inspired, the menu consisted of mainly burgers and pizza, but many other dishes as well, such as wings, salads or sandwiches.
After dinner, we headed to Le Chamber, a speakeasy hidden behind a bookcase. You had to find a certain book to push that would open the door to the speakeasy. Inside, the place was warm and cozy with a grand piano, lounge furniture, and a bar where you can watch the Korean bartenders craft the perfect cocktail for you. I had a delicious Gin Fizz with egg whites and orange blossom water – it tasted just like a creamsicle.
Although, only about a full day and a half in Seoul, we still managed to fit in a good amount of stuff and still have some time to relax before heading home Monday morning. It was a great weekend getaway that was much needed. Did I mention the fall colors in Seoul were absolutely incredible, too?! We took the express train back to Kunsan and spent the remainder of our day baking pumpkin pie, making chili, and planning out our next big trip coming up in just a few weeks! Stay tuned, Drifters! Until next time, Catch the Drift!
Ta ta for now, drifters!
XO,
Kylie
Missed last week’s update? Check it out right here!
