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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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.

AWCL Wonderlust 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]

Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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?
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


Went inside the ticket office and bought round trip tickets that costs 7,500won.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
PWanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


Seoul during sunset.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


The parking lot.  This photo reminds of the scene in Boys Over Flowers where Gu Jun Pyo waited for Jan Di.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


The N Seoul Tower.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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

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.

Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


Each window in the observatory has a city's name and the distance from the city to the observatory.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul TowerWanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul TowerWanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
_MWanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


So we had sandwiches and coffee at "A Twosome Place".
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


Leave Your Lovemarks at N Seoul Tower

Near the souvenir shop, you'll find this big wall full of bricks with messages and photographs.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.

Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower

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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower

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!!! :) 
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


The Cable Car with the N Seoul Tower as backdrop.

Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower


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.
Wanderlust Wednesdays: N Seoul Tower

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.



Open 365 days a year
Observatory: 9:00AM - 10:00PM
Restaurants/Food Court - 11:00AM-11:00PM

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