Seoul 3

I spent yesterday morning catching the blog up - this is a career in itself!

In the afternoon, I went with two other women to see the Seoul Tower which overlooks this huge city. I asked the concierge how much a taxi would cost and he said 25,000 won. It actually cost 28,000. The interesting thing is that the taxi we hailed ourselves to bring us back cost 12,500 won. Hmmm. Some collusion do you think? It happened to some other people in our group when they left from the hotel to go to dinner and then came back. Lesson--don't get a taxi from here. Walk a couple of blocks or so for a better deal!

Anyway, we went up the tower where we had a traditional Korean lunch - some good and some not so good. I think we could say that about any food. We walked around the tower. It was beautiful although the pollution here is terrible and the city was pretty much veiled. On each of the windows of the large circle, they have written the distance to cities/countries around the world that lie in that direction. It is fall here, and the leaves are changing and beautiful. I tried to get some pictures. I'm glad we're getting to see fall here because I'm afraid the leaves will have peaked in New Jersey by the time we get back.

Dad has been enjoying his meetings. Yesterday, he was in a meeting about the impact of the closing of inner-city hospitals on the community. He made a comment, and the woman next to him, who was Korean, said that she lived in New Jersey and had worked in Pascack, which has closed (she's about to start another job). You are never safe.

Last night, we went to the Seoul Temple. We had quite an adventure getting there. We had asked the concierge to call and get us directions from the subway. We probably should have talked to the temple ourselves because the tour director, who is LDS, did it that way and had a much easier time finding the temple. We, actually, should have coordinated and just gone with her---but then we wouldn't have had this interesting experience.

When we came out of the subway, we were confused about which way to go. The temple is off a side street in a very busy part of the city. It's more hectic than Manhattan. Anyway, Dad asked a couple of young Korean men directions to a department store that was supposed to be our landmark. We got there and still couldn't figure out what to do. We went back and found the same young men and gave them the address. I, then, gave them the phone number. One of the pulled out his cell and called the temple (our cell doesn't work inside Korea). He talked animatedly and started to lead us on quite a circular walk. He called the temple and had an "ah ha" moment and said, "I know where that is now!" They led us all the way there! They spent at last 20 minutes helping this poor old American couple. They were so gracious and kind. It was terrific.

We had a wonderful time at the temple. Besides us, there were Koreans, of course, and Russians - one man and four women. Dad talked to one of the women after and learned that she and her husband had been married civilly four days ago and had been sealed the day before. The other three women had just received their endowments the day before!

We took the subway back. It was 10:00 p.m., and the subway was packed. I can't get over how many people live here and how busy it is. You'd think that wouldn't be so surprising to someone used to New York, but, honestly, this is overwhelming!