Vacation = Love

Interesting (/gross) experience of the day:  I was walking around downtown Seoul when a guy walking in the opposite direction stops to look at something in a store window and lets rip a loud, wet one.  Luckily, I wasn't in any position to smell anything.

I spent my first tourist vacation day wandering around down town Seoul in below freezing weather for 4 to 5 hours today.   One of my small children definitely gave me a cold which made my wanderings quite a bit less comfortable.  I tried to go to the National Museum of Korea but was unsuccessful.  I shall have to try again, seeing as how they have a very large statue of Buddha which I would like to see.  I wonder if they let you rub its belly for good luck.....

I attempted to go to a falafel place that I was told is excellent, but it was closed, I'm hoping just because of the holiday, and not for good.  I ended up getting a burger instead, my first burger in probably six months.  Since I eat them so infrequently, I don't want to taint the experience by getting a Whopper or a Big Mac.  I went for the good stuff, ie $8 burger.  Yay lots of garlic and real meat.  Surprisingly, Korea has a very good burger chain, called Kraze Burger.  They've started exporting it to the US, I think the first one is near DC.  Unlike with Mr. Pizza, where they took the pizza and added all kinds of weird stuff to it making it wholly unlike American pizza, Kraze Burger just makes pretty standard burgers with lots of topping choices and fairly good quality meat.  Now the only problem is my mouth has the metallic-y post-garlic-consumption taste.

While I was walking down town, I wandered up towards the area where "the Blue House" (read, 'Korean White House) is and some how still didn't see it.  This is like my fourth time up there hoping to see it and just missing it completely.  On the plus side, there were lots of old style Korean houses, or 'hanok' 한옥 in the area which I got to see.  On the negative side, I forgot my camera at home on my bed.  Not that I would have enjoyed exposing my fingers to the air long enough to take a decent picture.

I love vacation.  I can sleep in tomorrow and go to the Trickeye Museum and eat gastronomic ice cream.  Very exciting.

On a random note, I received a box of cup cake mix in a care package.  Seeing as how I have neither a conventional oven or a toaster oven, I shall be attempting to make cupcakes via microwave.  Apparently, it has been done before.  Wish me luck.