Late-ness, Laughter, and Lanterns!

Have I mentioned that I love weekends in Seoul?!  This weekend started out on the right note--with food!  The D-Dong ladies (well, 6 of the 9) got together for our monthly dinner and since it is far too cold to dine al fresco on the roof we decided to take Alex's lead and go french.  Alex took us to La Celtique, a cozy second floor creperie between Sinchon and Edae.  When I glanced at the menu and saw the sweet crepes, my decision became easy.  I had the house special, the Celtique, which consisted of a crepe topped with apples, cinnamon, caramel, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream.  What's not to love?

Oh my goodness, heaven on a plate!

I have been looking forward to Saturday for over a month--since the day I booked six tickets for a girls' night out to see Urban Ballet as part of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival.  Allison, Joy, Misty, Rebecca, Jen, and I met Saturday afternoon and made our way across the city to the Performing Arts Center.  I knew it would take us a good amount of time to take the metro, but I didn't anticipate the confusion that would result at the theater when we tried to claim our tickets.  As a result of some language issues and my our lack of knowledge of the city, we arrived a few minutes late to the performance and found ourselves outside the theater hoping to get in.  Needless to say, I was super frustrated as we stood there and a fourth of the show passed us by.  Eventually we got in, carefully felt our way to a row of empty seats in the dark theater, and spent the next 45 minutes mesmerized by the incredible abilities of the human body.  The dancers took modern hip-hop dance moves and broke them down into precise ballet maneuvers--it was AMAZING and left us wanting more!!


After the show we wandered around the Performing Arts Center complex, marveling at the beautifully adorned buildings and the sheer size of the complex.  Working our way back toward our neighborhood, we stopped near City Hall where Kristen joined us for dinner.  Watching us try to choose a restaurant was pretty comical--"I think that one is too small," "What about that one--do the pictures on the door look good?", "Nah, let's just go to Outback."  Thankfully the Outback Steakhouse had a 20-30 minute wait, and we were starving so we opted for one of our initial picks and sat down for Italian food at Sorrento's.  It turned out to  be a fabulous choice and the six of us spend the next hour eating, drinking, and laughing.  Spending time with awesome women is good for the soul!  The group split and parted ways after dinner despite our best efforts to find a nori-bong to keep the party going.  We decided to save karaoke singing for another time, because the Lantern Festival was waiting!

Misty, Joy, and me at the Performing Arts Center

A small part of the Performing Arts Center complex

Kristen, Allison, and I took advantage of the beautiful, clear evening and made our way down to the creekside to see the collection of lanterns from countries all over the world.  In honor of the G-20 summit, various nations made their mark in light and it was splendid!  Apparently we weren't the only ones hoping to take in the spectacular sight before its end on Sunday--we found ourselves in the middle of a stream of people and we hopped right in.  Finally we figured out a way to skip the line and see the lanterns away from the crowd.  Here's what awaited us...

The site of the G-20 Summit attended by world leaders from 20 nations (yep, including President Obama)

Entrance to the Lantern Festival

One of the enormous lanterns...and part of the enormous crowd!

Lines, lines, lines! 

Show us how you really feel about waiting in line!

Just in case the throngs of people waiting in line get hungry...you can get yourself some sauteed silkworms (eww!). 

Like a torch lighting the way...

Sneaking in a photo of me enjoying the lanterns!

Strings of colorful lanterns illuminating the darkness.

Man and woman lanterns

More lighted beauties!

Just a guess, but I think this one is from China

This was one of the most impressive lanterns of the night!

Hmmm....I wonder which countries these babies represent?!

A view of the entire creek bathed in light...

Guess what holiday is coming soon?!

Stopping to snap pictures at an interesting cafe near the creek.

Lanterns and pinwheels all in one night!

Every outing I take into the city seems to reveal new treasures hiding all over Seoul--like a French ballet in Seoul and lanterns glowing into the night.  It will easily take me the entirety of my two year stay here to become familiar with this amazing city that was once a total enigma to the rest of the world.  All I can say is, more good times please!