We visited South Korea for the first time in August 2023. We liked Seoul so much that we decided to take a week-long vacation there in October. The weather would hopefully be more bearable than in August. We hoped to see some fall colors as well. Mjau, only the leaves from a couple of trees had started to change colors. We were a bit too early, mjau. The weather was however purrfect. Not too hot or too cold. At least our butler did not get too sweaty while walking us around Seoul and touch us with those clammy claws! We really enjoyed Hongdae so we decided to stay in that area again. Mjau! Our useless butler had booked us in to a hostel again! We deserve to stay in luxury hotels and penthouses!
Seoul has one of the best selections of cafes we have been to. Our favorites are probably Offer Bakery with their crunchy salt bread and Layered cafe with the many cake and scone options. We mostly spent the week visiting cafes and walking around the city. We also went to Butter & Shelter and Koriko Cafe. We also had a luxurious french toast brunch at Burwood.
One day we hiked up the Bukhansan. Mjau it is just walking a steep uphill for several hours! Mjau we thought walking up the stairs to Seoul tower was hard! Mjau our butlers legs were shaking in once we were back down. We demanded our butler take us to Cherryblossom house cafe as a treat for all our hard work, mjau. We had a delicious chocolate, hazelnut and pumpkin dessert.
One of our favourite things about Seoul is the many accessories and clothes for plushies that they sell in the shops and evening markets. Mjau, or "keychain" accessories as they call them. We know for whom they are really made for! The Disney parks in Asia also sell keychain Minnie ears that are the perfect size for us siamese cats! While walking around Hongdae we also found a small shop selling TY beanie babies! We could not find any of our siblings or relatives. There were mostly teddy bears and some bunnies and birds. They also had some older Disney memorabilia and toys. We also found a Disney store at Hyundai Department Store. They had Minnie and Mickey plushies dressed in hanbok. The Kakao Friends and Line Friends stores also have a lot of fun merchandise. At the Line Friends store you can buy BT21 plushies. At first our butler said they only bought one Mang plushie. Mjau, we were a bit upset! The shopping bag was quite big for only one plushie so we were sure we would get some plushies as souvenirs. Mjau, thankfully Santa got us a BT21 plushie each the following Christmas. Santa must have sensed our disappointment in our butler! They also sold plushie clothing and accessories at Line Friends, however they were unfortunately either slightly too big or too small for us. Disney Nuimos outfits suits us better, mjau. The Kakao Friends store had a Tom and Jerry theme at the time. We got a sleeping Choonsik plushie as a souvenir. Mjau, we also wanted the Ryan and Choonsik brick figures. Our butler made up excuses about limited space in the suitcase and did not buy any toys for us poor unfortunate kitty souls.
In the evenings we usually buy snacks from GS25, CU or Tous Les Jours Bakery and eat at the Gyeongui Line Forest Park while listening to the live music performances. They also have music performances at Street Artist Road. Although the quality may vary. One time there was an old man who had drunk too much special milk and sang 'Crooked' by G-Dragon on his portable karaoke machine. Mjau how embarrassing!
It happened to be Hangul Day while we were there so we decided to celebrate by going to the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. Mjau, they had a lovely display of Hodori, the mascot of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Afterwards we walked around Bukchon Hanok Village and went to Cafe Sasa at Seosulla-gil Stonewall Walkway. There are several small Hanok cafes and bars along the walkway. There were also cute ginger cats walking on the stonewall. Mjau, we saw the same cats when we visited the previous year.
Mjau we saw so many cats in Seoul, especially when hiking in Bukhansan National Park. Most cats were not fearful, however they did not want our butler to pet them. Mjau, we do not blame them one bit! A charitable black cat in Seoul Forest Park took pity on our butler and let themselves be petted. (The black cat must have recognized our butler as a witch!)
Another thing we like about Seoul is how many nice parks there are. We went to Seoul Forest Park, Seokchon Lake Park and Olympic Park. Lotte World is by the Seokchon Lake Park. Mjau, Lotte World looked a bit underwhelming since we are used to Disney Theme Parks. Therefore we decided not to visit Lotte World. The Olympic Park was nice to walk around. We bought some snacks from GS25 and ate them at the park. Seoul Forest Park was our favorite of the three parks. We visited a lovely cafe, Lowide Coffee Bakery, near Seoul Forest Park. Unfortunately we missed the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival, where they held a BT21 Mang meet and greet, as it was in the evening and we had to leave for our flight that same night. We did however walk by the J-Hope bench.
Hopefully we will be able to visit Seoul again soon. Next time we will visit more cozy cafes, beautiful parks and buy even more toys and plushies!
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