N. Seoul Tower

The North Seoul Tower is on top of Mount Namsan.  We decided to make this our first tourist stop in Seoul.  We took the subway to the Myeong-dong stop then had to walk uphill to the cable car depot at the bottom of Mount Namsan.  There are multiple ways to get up to the North Seoul Tower, but we chose to take the glass cable cars up.  The walk to the cable cars was a little confusing.  All the streets were extremely narrow and it was difficult to see the street names.  Plus, all the street names we did see all looked the same: Toegye-ro 18-gil, Toegye-ro 20-gil, Toegye-ro 20-na-gil...

Since it was our first time looking at street names, we couldn't find them, and then when we did, we couldn't tell the difference between one street and another.

We finally made it to the Cable Car depot, and made our way to the cable cars.  The entire car is made of windows.

The clear car takes cables about 30-60 feet or so above the ground and has a magnificent view of the city.  It takes about 15 minutes or so to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top.  The kids loved having their faces right on the glass.  Little Monster was so excited he was doing a little dance.  Poor Kevin has a problem with heights, so the wall of glass and being so high off the ground made him a little dizzy. He was very happy when we stopped but everyone else was disappointed.

The disappointment didn't last very long.  As we got off the cable car, we were greeted by a spectacular view of the city and some gorgeous mossy stairs to the tower.

After one flight of stairs, we reached the Roof Terrace and thousands upon thousands of love locks. On every space available on all the fences we saw padlocks and combo locks all locked to the fence.  It was such a neat sight to see.

I saw the locks and said, "Dang, we should have brought a lock!"  However, it IS a tourist attraction, so right around the corner was a lock stand where you can purchase a key-less lock to place on the fence to declare your unfailing love.

The kids picked out a lock and we obtained a permanent marker and made our unfailing family love declared in writing on our lock.  Then with contention, name calling and pushing, the kids proceeded to fight over where we should put our love lock.  "Can you feel the love tonight?"

After a good 10 minutes of breaking up fights and yelling at the kids that this is supposed to be a "love" lock and we are supposed to love each other, we finally agreed on the perfect spot for our not-so-love lock.  The kids quickly forgot about fighting, all agreed they had personally picked the best spot and then fought over who would put the lock on the gate.  At this point, I'm over the whole love feast and take the lock and lock it quickly on the gate.  They all cheer and again are a happy family, and I'm exhausted.  Big Sis declares that it's cool that we left a piece of our family in Seoul and we can come see our mark in South Korea every time we come back to visit.

The kids announce that they are now at the point of starvation, so we hurry up a few more flights of stairs to the restaurants.  They are so hungry that we go to the first place we see, an Italian restaurant called, The Place Dining.

We walk in, sit down and immediately realize we made a big mistake.  This is one of those anniversary restaurants that you save up for and go for your 10th, 20th, or other big anniversary date.  The menu only had a few items and I would have to sell Little A, just to pay for our meal.  Unfortunately, the kids are so hungry, and we don't know what else is around, so we just secretly decide to sell a kidney each and order some food.  I order the cheapest thing on the menu, which was a bowl of soup, we order a pizza for the kids to share, and then Kevin orders a salad and pasta. Little Monster is tired, hungry and super squirmy.

The restaurant does not have any high chairs, because let's be honest, we were probably the first shmucks to bring kids in the restaurant. While the food was lavishly being cooked (It better be a gold stove), I take the Monster out to walk around.  We go out the door and around the corner and are greeted by the sights and smells of numerous affordable restaurants,  palm to forehead!  I was tempted to call Kevin and tell him to sneak out of the restaurant.  Oh well, lesson learned.  And at least I can tell people that I ate in the romantic-amazing-view-on-top-of-the-N.-Seoul-Tower The Place Restaurant.  I will just keep out all the dirty details.

Kevin texts me and says the food is there, so Little Monster and I make our way back to the restaurant that will cost me a kidney.  I behold my bowl of soup and there is an 18 inch plate with a little hole in the middle that is about 3 inches in diameter.  There was enough soup for 6 spoonfuls.  The pizza has tomatoes and fresh basil on it, so the kids peel it all off and have two slices of the most expensive cheese pizza they have ever had.  Perhaps it wasn't really cheese, but grated gold.  Little Monster doesn't want any of the food, so I bust out a granola bar for him.  I can just feel the daggers being stared through me as he crumbled it all over the floor and himself and proceeds to vocally yell and express his hunger and exhaustion.

Since my 6 spoonfuls are up, I take him out once again to walk around.  We find a really neat lookout above the restaurant that also has locks covering the fence.  Little Monster runs all around and enjoys trying to pull the locks off the fence.

The girls one by one come out and join me and the Monster.  We enjoy the view, the locks and people watching.  Kevin pays the bill and joins us.  We walk around and go through a lighted tunnel.  The tunnel is surrounded by flashing and blinking lights.  All the kids enjoy the lights!

We see a few beautiful traditional Korean architecture, and more locks.  By this time, it is already past 8:00, and Little Monster is past the point of no return.  He is so very tired.  We make our way back to the Cable Cars.

The truth is, it really was amazing and incredible.  True, my kids were crazy and tired and hungry and fighting but that's the reality.  Gotta keep it real!  I love my family.  I love the moments we really do express our unfailing love, and I love the exhausting moments when it seems the walls will crumble with all the fighting, but it's my family and I love them forever, and I have a lock on the N. Seoul Tower to prove it!