Restaurant: Bread is Ready, Coffee is Done (Seoul, Korea)

On our third day in Seoul, we woke up early and went back to Hongdae to check the place out in the morning.  We spent a good hour and a half in Hongdae exploring and doing street photography.  From Hongdae, we took the train going to Anguk Station and made our way out to Exit #3. 

As we were walking out to Exit #3, I saw this cafe with an amusing name: Bread is Ready, Coffee is Done (BRCD).  Since we haven't had any proper breakfast yet, we decided to stop by and have late morning tea.  The aroma of coffee and freshly-baked bread was also inviting.

Even if lengthy, I fancy the name and their logo.  As a foodie, the name of a restaurant/cafe has an impact on me, plus, how they brand themselves with their logo and interiors.

Bread is Ready, Coffee is Done has cozy interiors with good, non-intrusive lighting.  Most walls are covered in doodles and artworks.

It is a cafe, bakery and restaurant.  They not only serve cakes and pastries, they also offer dishes such as burgers and pasta.

It was nearly 12 noon when we got to BRCD but we craved for just good coffee and bread that time since it was our official sit down meal for the day.  I think our tummies seemed to be running on Australian time still because it would've been nearly 9:00am in Sydney--so that meant morning tea for us.

I had my usual Cafe Americano and now that I'm on my third day, I'm convinced that they make really good Americanoes here.  Their coffee was smooth and rich.

I don't remember the names of the bread we had but mine, I think, was cheese bread.  While the Husband had a roll with fillings inside.  I can't remember what that filling was though.  Their bread was light and not too sweet.

We left Bread is Ready, Coffee is Done satisfied and newly-charged with energy as we excitedly went off to our next stop: Changdeok Palace (coming next on our Wanderlust Wednesdays this week).We visited BRCD on 20 April 2011.

Bread is Ready, Coffee is Done
Located in Anguk Station
Seoul, Korea

Wanderlust Wednesdays: The Teddy Bear Museum (Seoul, Korea)

As promised last week, I will share with you our adventure at the Teddy Bear Museum.  Before we went up the N Seoul Tower, the lady at the entrance told us that we have to have our tickets validated at the Teddy Bear Museum before we go up.  So explore the Teddy Bear Museum we did, and boy, we had the funnest time as we looked at the super cutest dioramas of TEDDY BEARS we've ever seen!!!

The Teddy Bear Museum 
(N Seoul Tower)

Seoul has long been the cultural, political and economic centre of Korea, and is now emerging as a vibrant global city with the extraordinary breadth and width of tradition and charm.  The Teddy Bear Museum aims to spotlight Seoul's rich history and highlight some of its most exciting trends today with teddy bears, one of the most adored stuffed toys.

Korea's very first Teddy Bear Museum was opened in April 2001 at Jeju Island.  It boasts the world's largest collection of teddy bears.  It consists of two exhibition halls namely (1) the Hall of History and (2) the Hall of Art.  It houses about 1,500 teddy bears including the supremely luxurious Louis Vuitton Bear.

The one in N Seoul Tower is the third Teddy Bear Museum in Korea and upon arrival at the entrance, a big brown teddy bear welcomed us.  Hmmm, a sign of cute things to come.

The museum is made up of two exhibition halls.  We are grateful that taking photographs are allowed while inside so here are some of the many photos we took from both exhibition halls.

Exhibition Hall I - The Past
Hall of Historical Seoul

This section traces Seoul's history from Hanyang of the Joseon  Dynasty to modern-day Seoul.

 

  

A traditional Korean wedding.

Women making Kimchi.   Men grateful for the gift of electricity.

 

The nation's Prince.

Exhibition Hall II - The Present
Hall of Today's Seoul
 
This section introduces the many interesting facets of modern Seoul from Apgujeong to Samcheong. 

Christmas in Seoul.

They love fashion and would spend for designer brands.  The rise of the Chefs.

 

Never forgetting their faith.

The cutest KPOP group! :)

The Photographer.

Emergence of Cafes.

Lovers in Seoul.

Other than the two major exhibition halls, the Teddy Bear Museum also showcases a few small special sections.

The Palace Zone
This is where you'll find the teddy bears featured in the Korean drama "Princess Hours" or "Goong".  I was so happy when I saw the bears that I can't help but hug the Prince Bear hehe.

They even have a few memorabilia from the drama like the scripts and pencils they used, etc.

The exhibited the bear used in the drama.  He is called the "Alfred" Bear.  You can buy the Alfred bear in the Teddy Bear Museum shop but it was quite expensive compared to the other bears.

More photos with the giant Princess Hours bears.

   

The Photo Zone
Have a digital photo with the bears via this platform that you need to step on.  The TV above will show if you are on the right spot.  The three circles on the platform indicates SHOOT, SAVE, CANCEL.  All you need is to do is step on the command of your choice. The photo you saved can be printed and of course you have to pay for them before you leave.  I just tested this thing out but didn't save my photo. 

 

The Teddy Bear Museum Shop
From postcards, coffee mugs, key chains, bags and teddy bears, you can buy them all here before you leave the museum.  Picture taking is not allowed inside the shop that's why I don't have photos of their merchandise.

If you are at the N Seoul Tower, be sure to allot at least an hour to go around the Teddy Bear Museum.

The Teddy Bear Museum
N Seoul Tower
Seoul: Past & Present

How To Get To N Seoul Tower
Open all year round from 10:00AM to 10:00PM

Ticket Prices:
W8,000/adult - Teddy Bear Museum Only
W14,000/adult - Teddy Bear Museum+N Seoul Tower Observatory

Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower (Seoul, Korea)

I have a lot of travel stories to share so I decided to dedicate my Wednesdays for my travel posts.  I've been wanting to do this for the longest time and a few weeks ago I told myself to just do it.  And here we are with my first entry to Wanderlust Wednesdays.

 

I'm going to continue sharing my Seoul adventure as I've received a few emails asking me about Seoul.  With what I have shared before (Incheon Airport, the hotel where we stayed, exploring Hongdae, the Kimchi Museum, Coex Mall and Yeouido Park), it seemed that several readers have taken interest into visiting Seoul and I'm glad my stories will somehow help in planning one's itinerary.


On our second evening in Seoul, from Yeouido Park we took the train to Myeong-dong Station and climbed up to the tallest tower in Seoul--the N Seoul Tower.  Also known as the Namsan Tower, it was built in 1969 as Korea’s first integrated transmission tower beaming television and radio broadcasts across the capital.  Since opening to the public in 1980, it has become a much-loved Seoul landmark. The tower’s main attractions include multi-colored digital art projected onto the tower at night, a digital observatory, a roof terrace, the HanCook restaurant, the n.Grill restaurant, and the Haneul (Sky) Restroom. N Seoul Tower’s mountain surroundings on Namsan (Mt.) have made it a popular place to unwind for locals and tourists alike. [source]

How To Get There:

We took the Cable Car in order to reach N Seoul Tower.  

Take subway lin 4, get off at Myeongdong Station, then take exit no.3.  Walk towards the Pacific Hotel.

Once you've reached the Pacific Hotel, walk on the right side of the street for about 10 minutes uphill in order to reach the cable car station.

Once we've reached the Cable Car Station, we saw this elevator and found out that this is another way of going up the Cable Car Station.  Looks cool, right?

Went inside the ticket office and bought round trip tickets that costs 7,500won.

There was a long queue to get into a cable car but we were so happy with how our Seoul adventure has been going, we snapped happy shots to pass the time.

The packed the cable car so it was hard to take photos or videos while inside.  But thankfully, I was able to get some decent shots.

Cherry Blossoms down under.

Seoul during sunset.

The parking lot.  This photo reminds of the scene in Boys Over Flowers where Gu Jun Pyo waited for Jan Di.

The N Seoul Tower.

The N Seoul Tower houses the Teddy Bear Museum located at the lower level of the tower.

If you want to see the Teddy Bear Museum and go up the N Seoul Tower, you can buy the 14,000won ticket (per adult).

Before we went up the Observatory of the N Seoul Tower, we asked to go inside the Teddy Bear Museum (which I will feature in next week's Wanderlust Wednesdays) in which we spent about an hour.

After we're done exploring the Teddy Bear Museum, we went up the observatory and saw Seoul's lovely nightscape.

Each window in the observatory has a city's name and the distance from the city to the observatory.

We went back down around 10PM and we were famished.  There are a lot of restaurants inside the tower but we opted for something quick and not so heavy.  Hungry as we were, we didn't want to shock our tummies with so much food especially that it was already late.

So we had sandwiches and coffee at "A Twosome Place".

Leave Your Lovemarks at N Seoul Tower

Near the souvenir shop, you'll find this big wall full of bricks with messages and photographs.

You can buy these square bricks from the souvenir shop and you can write messages and stick photos on them.  Most of the bricks looked like they were made by couples, probably professing their love to each other.

Outside, you'll find several trees (they looked like Christmas trees) made up of padlocks.  They are called the LOVE LOCKS.  People who visit N Seoul Tower bring padlocks with them and lock them unto the fence.  But as the years go by, there were so many padlocks on the fence that they had to make trees now.

Couples write their names (nowadays, they write messages too) and lock in their padlocks on the trees to signify their "forever-locked love" to each other.

The Husband and I planned to buy a padlock (yes, just one to signify that we are one) and have it engraved with our names and the dates we were in Seoul but we forgot all about it as soon as we arrived in Manila haha.  Better luck next time!

Going back to the Cable Car Station, we saw this coffee vending machine and realized that this was the vending machine that Gu Jun Pyo used in Boys Over Flowers.  Another Koreanovela moment hahaha!!! :) 

The Cable Car with the N Seoul Tower as backdrop.

Going back to Myeondong Train Station, we decided to go down via the open elevator.  I have fear of heights so I was trying to smile here.  Grateful that it's not that steep, plus, it's not all the time I get to ride this awesome elevator so I just enjoyed it.

We had a long day that day.  Our feet were a bit exhausted from all the walking we did but we went home with a smile in our hearts.

N Seoul Tower 

Open 365 days a year

Observatory: 9:00AM - 10:00PM

Restaurants/Food Court - 11:00AM-11:00PM