DAY 2 IN SEOUL: Ice Skating Near City Hall

 Had a good night of rest and maybe my best breakfast of this trip so far.  The buffet breakfast at Aria in the Westin Chosun is wonderful.  For me, soup dumplings and udon.

See that thermos bottle?  It contains scotch, which, for me is a required ingredient in the consumption of Shanghai Soup Dumplings.

Second course of Udon and kim chi.

Noticed that tree trunks are protected from the cold.  How cold?  Looks nice, and the temperature hovers around freezing, 32F.  Lows at night will approach 20F.  High winds are expected in a couple of days, lowering the wind chill to 0 F, or 32 degrees below freezing.  Best to go out today and tomorrow.

So off we went to walk around our hotel block,

My Blue-bar Pigeon greeted us.

Street wearables and food stalls,  Note the next one sells clothes for dogs.  Dog Face, not North Face.

Lotte Hotel and Department Store.

Hangungu Shrine.  Note:  Westin Chosun in background,

Below, this same shrine, view from our hotel. 

By the way, there is snow on the ground.

Some outdoor art.

Ice skating rink next to City Hall,  Note that earlier in the day there was a protest against the government,

Ice skating in Seoul

Hwacheon Sangheoneo Ice Festival sign.

Seoul City Hall.

Inside City Hall.

We finally found a way to enter the underground shopping area through the basement of the Lotte Hotel.  We had dinner of pho and ribs, with a can of Cass Beer.

Adjacent was a small shopping mall, which I remembered had a stairs up to our hotel,  Looking one way,

Then the other.

Up the stairs to the outside of the lit up Westin Josun, once spelled Chosun, pronounced jo-sun.

Inside the hotel,

Very simple meal in the Executive Lounge of chicken, chips, cheese, salami and grapes , with bourbon on rocks, champagne and cabernet sauvignon.

Walked a lot today....8737 steps, more than 4 miles.

To close, something on the Republic of Korea's, also known as South Korea's, political roller coaster ride.  Five individuals have led the country over the past decade.

1. Park Geun-hye (right, 2013–2017, impeached):  she is the only female president of the nation.  Daughter of former Dictator Park Chung-hee.  She was jailed for five years and was pardoned at the end of 2021.
2. 
   Hwang Kyo-ahn (Acting President, Dec 2016 – May 2017)
3. Moon Jae-in (2017–2022)
4. Yoon Suk Yeol (right, 2022–April 2025, impeached):  he is serving a five-year prison sentence and is currently incarcerated,
5. Lee Jae-myung (June 2025–present) 

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