Day 428: Spring Perfection

Today was one of the best days I've had in a long time!

(and lemme tell you, a Good Day really was desperately needed!)

I met up with Michael in the city and our agenda for the afternoon involved nothing but lunch, some window-shopping, and just trying to soak up as much of the sunshine as possible! It was a beautiful spring day - clear blue skies, a light warm breeze, and spring flowers in full bloom all across Seoul. Magnificent!

We ended up having lunch at this incredible European cafe right in downtown Seoul. Subway was our original destination, but then Michael remembered eating at this place ages and ages ago, and thought we should check it out. It ended up being one of the best damn lunches I've had here in Korea! There was a variety of gourmet sandwiches and paninis, plus a plethora of delicious salads to choose from. On top of that, this little cafe also operates a small bakery, and so there was an amazing variety of break - REAL BREAD - to buy later if we felt like bringing home a little treat. Wow! Most sandwich cafes in Seoul pretty much suck (too small, weird ingredients like ketchup with cabbage and sugar and ham, and are way too overpriced for what you get.) Not this place! Yeah it was a little pricey, but it was so worth every won.

I had a chicken panini, and then Michael and I shared a grilled chicken caesar salad and a pasta salad, all of which was incredibly delicious! Seriously, it was the closest thing to culinary orgasm that one can get! Real bread, fresh ingredients, seasonings and textures and flabours that my mouth hasn't experienced since leaving the home continent...it was almost too much pleasure!

After lunch we meandered to Myongdong to check out a few stores (didn't buy anything today) and then wandered back to the downtown area. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at this great little outdoor cafe tucked in behind Gyongbok Palace, enjoying coffee and reading our books. What a great way to spend the afternoon! After last weekend's LazeFest where I wasted a perfectly sunny day, it was so great to be out in the sunshine all day today. Spring rocks!

Afterwards Michael went to go and meet some friends from school, and I went and hung out at Starbucks with my Lonely Planet: Cambodia for a few hours (you know me, can't get enough overpriced coffee!) I met up with Angele for dinner in Sinchon and we went to this great chicken place. After dinner we headed to Hongdae for drinks at Tinpan, and Mikey joined us later there. After a a couple drinks there we somehow *mysteriously* ended up at The Bar, although this time our hang out was...not the same it usually is...

There was a really strange vibe there that night. Normally The Bar is dark and kinda dirty and full of amplified rock anthems and drunken friendlies. Tonight it was bright, and playing way too much pop, and full of these teeny-bopper white chicks! What the fuck? It was like the bus on the way to the Dawson's Creek Convention broke down in front of The Bar and everyone on the bus came inside. It was so not our usual Bar. What the hell is going on? Does tonight's weirdness forecast a tragic and inevitable change of tides? Bars come and go here, as does clientele and atmospheres at these types of little hole-in-the-walls. Could this spell the end of an era? Despite this unexpected strangeness at Our Insititution, I wasn't gonna let it dampen my great spirits. Today was an awesome day!