Anyong Haseyo Seoul (1)

(Part 1)
So... Katy go the call on a Monday morning, and by Monday afternoon we had our flights booked for that Thursday evening. Crazy! Seoul, Korea here we come! We took an overnight flight in hopes to sleep some, (we both got a couple of hours of zzzzzz's). We arrived in Seoul at 4:30am on Saturday (they are 18 hours ahead). Then we took a bus to our hotel (Sommerset Palace) and arrived at our hotel at 7 am. Little did we know that we weren't going to be able to check in until 3pm! So we had 8 hours to kill! The hotel was very kind in trying to accommodate us in any way they could but, there was literally no extra room for us to have. So we left our luggage and decided to hit the town greasy, tired, and cranky. Seoul is an incredible city filled with much to see so, there was no shortage of things to do. Before we did anything we needed to lift our "spirits" a little bit so... we went to Starbucks. We have never been so happy to be at Starbucks:)

Katy being our "navigator" and then we hit the town.

Our first stop was nearby it was the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Built at the begining of the Chosun Dynasty when the Yi Dynasty moved the capital to Seoul, this palace remained the main seat of power for Korea kings throughout much of the time to the present. Anything that is painted in these pictures is hand painted. This palace was massive! It was so massive that my feet ached like we were at Disneyland.

Posing with a traditional Korean soilder

The entrance gate







We finally did get into our hotel, and it was was only 2pm. So... after 6 hours or so we were happy to be in our room.



Our hotel



Our room. We were happy that they put an extra bed in for me because, Katy is a cover stealer, and I am a kicker :)



Our view from our room. That happens to be the palace in the background.

We did end up doing more sightseeing that day and the following day. We had to keep busy because Monday was Katy's day to meet Gracyn and the nerves were getting to us. Between the nerves, the jet lag, the climate change (it was hot and sticky, plus would rain and the drops would be the size of baseballs all day long), and the emotions and stress of what was happening and going to happen we did need to stay occupied. In our hotel there also happened to be many other families that were also adopting so, that made for quick connections and conversations as well as company throughout our week. It was such a gift for especially Katy, to be in constant conversation with other families going through the exact same thing as her and Matt. And we did meet some amazing families who adopted precious kids. Here are just a few more pictures of our sightseeing throughout our trip that week. They are in no order.

School Kids



A local market place









These are dumplings that are each the size of an apple.



Dumpling soup before it's cooked.
And it was super yummy. Our best meal there :)

Part 2- is all about Gracyn
I will post hopefully tomm.