Mamma Mia! A pizzeria in-a Korea! Can-a this be-a?

Just-a wait-a and-a see-a!

Ok, enough of that nonsense. Welcome to part 2 of my blog on Korea. I hope this one, unlike most sequels, is better than my last post. Also, you'll notice I make great use of links so please use them as well. They tell half the story. Enjoy.


So the conference I was in Seoul to attend was ok, but nothing special, and it was about the military so even if it was really interesting I especially couldn't talk about it here.

Most days after the conference I would hit the town for some shopping or just exploring. The area I was in, called Insadong, was a great area to walk around and shop in, as I mentioned earlier. During my trip around the market, I heard some music off in the distance that sounded eerily similar to the theme of the Benny Hill Show. Of course I'm enthralled by anything having to do with Benny Hill or his rich comedic legacy so I walked over to see what was going on. I came upon a crowd of Korean people who were watching three very talented street performers. I've posted a few of the videos I took of them and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.




In a word, these guys were great. They sort of reminded me of the Town Musicians of Bremen in that the sax player was kind of short and chubby, the banjo player was sort of middle height, but very skinny and rather pale, and the tuba player was a very thick and tall Eastern European-type. I sort of imagined them as the musicians of Bremen if the donkey played tuba, the rooster picked the banjo, and the little fat dog played the straight sax.

I stood around and watched these guys for about 30 minutes and laughed along with the many Korean shoppers who stopped to enjoy.

Maybe the best part was that some of the Korean passersby would stop and position themselves about six feet away and have their photo taken by a friend while these guys played in the background, but when the musicians would see this, they would run over, while still playing their song, and crowd around this person having their picture taken. The guy playing the tuba would even prop his instrument on to his hip so he could make a peace sign for the pictures. This rare moment was one of those odd enjoyments of travel that can never be predicted or planned for.


After watching these musicians, I walked on and continued shopping. While shopping I bought Kelsey two hats from the selection below. We'll see if she wears them.



I also bought a mask that is used for traditional Korean theater. The mask is called Yangban and is supposed to resemble a happy, old aristocrat. I'm not sure I'll be able to get Kelsey to wear that one either. We'll just have to see.




On another night during the week, I met up with the other guy I was travelling with and we decided to go out to eat. Near our hotel, we happened upon an Italian food restaurant called Palazzo Due (176 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea).


Although the signpost above clearly tells you how to get there, we found this particular place by doing one of my favorite things - getting lost. By that I mean I frequently like to just turn down random alleyways and side streets and see what is there. It is a hallmark of my travel method and I have never been disappointed in my adventures. Just remember, the beaten path is usually beaten because it is the easiest, not necessarily the most rewarding.
Here's me at the sign for Palazzo Due. By the way, I'm not trying to strike a pose. I'm actually looking at the nearby car that seems to be trying to run me over. Notice the brightness of the headlights on my legs. Luckily, I came away from this encounter unscathed, but the car was totaled.

At this restaurant, we had a FANTASTIC quattro formaggio pizza that I actually went back and ordered for take out again later in the week. They serve it with honey to dip it in and it is phenomenal. If you are ever passing through Seoul, stop in and try this place out. You will not be disappointed.


So near the end of the week I finally got together with two Korean girls who were freshmen in company in the Corps of Cadets. They were part of an exchange program that Texas A&M had with some Korean University in Suwon (Suwon Polytech maybe? I don't know). In the Corps, they were freshmen and I was a sophomore and squad leader for one of them so our time together mainly consisted of me yelling at them and making them do push-ups, but we had fun reminiscing about fun times.

Ji-hyun is the one on the left and Se-jung is the one on the right. Ji-hyun works for a big Korean company called SK Group, much like our own General Electric here. Se-jung is now the director and editor for an apparently popular Korean reality tv show about food. I actually asked her how popular it was and she leaned over to the table next to us at the restaurant we were at and asked if the other patrons had heard of the show and all of them knew of it. The three of us went out to eat at a traditional Korean restaurant that was really good, as evidenced by the photo below.

While I was with them, I reminded them that the only word I ever remember them teaching me in Korean was a curse word. Not sure why that one stuck, but it did.

As an aside, I speak Japanese (albeit poorly), but no Korean. Thankfully Ji-hyun speaks great English and Se-jung speaks a little. At one odd point during dinner, the three of us were arguing over some word one of us had said. I said I knew it in Japanese and said it, when all of a sudden, four ladies at a table next to us, who were apparently Japanese turned around. Ji-hyun speaks a little Japanese and these ladies knew a little Korean so Ji-hyun starts asking them what they think this particular word is. Well, we all start arguing soon enough there are seven of us arguing back and forth in Korean, English and Japanese. After about 15 seconds of this, we realized we were making a scene and all of us started laughing.

At the end of the meal we exchanged some gifts. I gave them command coins from Seventh Fleet and our command ball caps. Ji-hyun gave me a very cool little helicopter paper-weight with her company's logo on it. The propeller on the top comes off and is an ink pen. She also gave me some little hand carved frogs that are made to sit on a table ledge or desk hutch. She said she calls them her suicide dolls because "every time I sit down to work, they suicide off the desk." I really enjoyed them.

After dinner, we walked to a river that runs through Seoul that has a beautiful river walk area. After that, we parted company. Overall, it was a great time. I told them that in another 10 years they would have to come back to America and I could give them a tour.

If you ever get a chance to go to Seoul, I highly recommend it. It is a beautiful city with lots to do. And they have great pizza!