Day 429: Blossoms & Booters

Today was a great extension of yesterday's Spring Bliss.

I had brunch at Rocky Mountain Tavern with Angele, Katie, Addie, and Katie's friend David. It was a great breakfast, followed by the requisite coffee at Starbucks. After that we all kinda split up and went in our own directions. Addie and I went down to Yeouido Island - the riverfront park-lined "Manhattan Island" of Seoul in the Han River to go and check out the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

We got off the subway and were - not suprisingly - greeted with hordes and hordes of crowds. Extended families, love-struck couples, gangs of gleeful teenagers, and the occasional duo or trio of curious foreigners were absolutely everywhere. Yes, it's true, everybody and their dog was indeed on Yeouido that day. We slowly trudged through the sea of people to the western tip of the island where the concentration of cherry trees is greatest. It was a hazy but warm day, and the blossom were out in full bloom and looking quite spectacular. Rows and rows of pink-white petals stretching like canopies over the streets, all the while in the shadows of the enormous looming Korean National Assembly building and in full view of the Han River. Quite a lovely sight, indeed.

We just walked around and relaxed for a while, before deciding that we had had enough of the crowds and would head back to Ilsan. We decided to walk along the river to a different subway station in the hopes that we'd have to deal with fewer people. Well there was this bend in the river where another small stream flows into the Han, and there was this earten dyke across the entrance to this creek. It looked like a short cut to the other side of the bend, and there was a steady stream of people walking along it, so we decided to give it a go. Well we were almost all the way across it when we noticed 'The Gap'. There was a space about 20 metres wide where the dyke stopped and there was just a bunch of largish rocks connecting to the other side, with water rushing inbetween. A line of careful Koreans were hopping and balancing their way across The Gap on the rocks, and much to Addie's disapproval, we ventured forth. Addie has a fear of being suspended above water (or having to balance across it) and so she was kinda freaking out, while I was all confident and chipper bouncing from rock to rock.

I was almost across when suddenly I slipped and *SPLASH!* stepped right into the river! A full-fledged booter! I was all disappointed in myself, but considering how polluted the Han is I was just thankful that I didn't have a sixth or seventh toe when I pulled my foot out! I walked the rest of the way with a soaked foot and we then caught the train to head on home. I was dampened in terms of footwear, but definitely not in spirit! ;-)