Wandering here, stumbling there...

Well, I was supposed to be going skiing today but it obviously was not meant to be, as I realised that I would need to get insurance and nobody will insure you (from the UK) if you're already abroad, at least no one I could find in a short space of time. As that involved getting up at 4.30am in the morning, I wasn't devastated to stay in bed.

So, with a day free, I decided to wander from my apartment in the vague direction of Apujeong, which I knew was supposed to be quite an affluent area of Seoul, and see what I found on the way.

I stumbled across this Cathedral which looked quite impressive, and I wondered how long it had been in Seoul (I'm not sure how long Christianity has been in Korea) so as I mulled this over I thought I would walk all around it. Using the date of the construction as an indication of the length of Christianity here though isn't really going to help..... as the next photo shows, it hasn't actually been completely built yet. I can't imagine there are many brand, spanking new Cathedrals being built in the world, but if everyone else has got one, I'm sure Seoul wants one too!

I wandered onwards through some back streets and saw a pet grooming shop which is not the obvious thing you associate with Korea, so I couldn't resist looking in the window. I did have in the back of my mind the whole eating dog thing, which does happen here although it is quite rare as it is very expensive and a delicacy (apparently....I'll pass thank you)

However, there would be little point in grooming a dog you were going to eat, so I felt these pampered pooches were probably very well looked after (if you counted having their coats dyed and decorations attached to them well looked after!) and if this one was ever going to end up on a plate, it would have to be dessert!! (ok, this is an artists impression, but it's very close to the actual Spaniel I saw with luminous pink ears... so wrong!)

Onwards, and after a long walk I thought I'd have a rest and a Jasmine tea in a nice coffee shop. However, as I walked out to leave I literally stumbled across myself - I obviously wasn't concentrating enough to take on the tricky prospect of a flight of stairs, dazzled perhaps by the chrome and glass everywhere, and as the thought crossed my mind of "I wonder if they've got any..." whoompf... my mind crossed a large distance very quickly as the floor disappeared from underneath me, and my feet connected only slightly with 2 steps out of about 10, and I caught myself, literally, by crashing full bodily against my mirrored image in a mirrored wall at the turn of the stair case. After a second it appeared that neither myself or my image was broken, so I casually (yet quite carefully) turned the corner and walked the rest of the stairs to get out of view of the entire, packed top floor who had gasped at the crash, and were probably wondering why western women insist on drinking so early in the day! The irony is, I have never fallen down a flight of stairs drunk, I hadn't had anything alcoholic to drink for a week, and I didn't even have high heels on. Skiing would have been much safer...

During my wanderings, I also came across this sign which made me chuckle (so immature...) along the lines of; have the Korean's copied the idea of Speed Dating and taken it to a whole new level....?! (apologies, I have to amuse myself out here)