kimchi corner: February 2007

SATURDAY AT THE COEX AQUARIUM

Today is New Year's Eve (again). Elizabeth, Merilee, Linda, and I decided to see the fish. Coex--an extremely large, underground shopping complex--was relatively quiet (only half a million persons instead of the usual million or so!)
The aquarium has been re-modeled somewhat since our last visit. Elizabeth thinks she likes the old setup better. It's still the same fish. I liked the home exhibit where fish were in various home appliances and furnishings.

Afterwards we had supper. We started at Marche Movenpick Restaurant. We've seen it on our trips to Coex and were curious. It has a pleasant European market atmosphere. We were seated and the hostess explained how to get our food. There are no menus; instead, she gave each of us a card to take around to the various food stations. After choosing a particular item, the server stamps the card with the price of the dish and gives you your food and the card. You continue moving around the restaurant and picking your food. Hence the name "Movenpick." It was basically a high-priced cafeteria. When you finish dining, you take your card to the cashier.

We started moving, but we weren't picking. Food choices either weren't what we wanted, or they were expensive. We finally decided to order ice cream. It's not often we eat dessert first. We then went across the plaza to Bennigan's.

Because of the holiday, the subway wasn't crowded, and we all had seats the entire trip (about 25 minutes).

WHEN YOU CAN'T GO TO THE LOUVRE . . .

BRING THE LOUVRE TO YOU!

The recently opened National Museum is hosting an exhibit of paintings from the Louvre. Parents of one of our students gave tickets for all the teachers to go. Elizabeth decided today was the day for us to go. Unfortunately, Venus d'Milo and Mona Lisa weren't able to make the trip from Paris to Seoul.

I don't know what the crowd is like at the actual Louvre, but the numbers here were ridiculous. If you wanted to see the paintings up close, you had to stand in a slow-moving mass that continued all around both galleries. I opted to view most paintings from a distance (the center of the room.)

The National Museum itself was not so crowded, and we moved freely through the multiple galleries. It is interesting to learn about another culture via its artifacts. The museum opened just a year ago in a huge building on the southern boundary of the U.S. Army garrison in the center of Seoul. We didn't try to see it all, but we did spend about four hours soaking up some history.

We had dinner with John and Kay Slack at TGIFriday's in Sadang which is on the way home. (I drove by the way.) John met us at the museum, and Kay joined us for dinner. It was a pleasant end to a pleasant day.