We Are Here, We Are Here, We Are Here...



baggage claim at Incheon Airport

And feel about as big as those Who's who first screamed "we are here" from their spec in Horton's trunk.  This place is HUGE.  And BUSY.  And it's CRAZY great!!  I'm blogging at the end of day one in Seoul for us.  We flew from Jackson to Chicago where Phil's sweet Aunt Sherry picked us up from Midway airport, took us to breakfast, then dropped us off at O'Hare for our non-stop to Seoul. 

the drop off at O'hare

checking in at Asiana in Chicago

The trip over was uneventful but very long.  The Koreans do not appreciate my LOVE of air conditioning being on about 68 in any moving vehicle and I was HOT the entire 14 hours over.  Yuck!  But, Asiana is a wonderful airline, beautiful stewardesses, fun movies, good food, water and juice coming out your ears (a must for long flights!).  We landed in Seoul, changed currency, and met our driver, Mr. Lee.  And, yes, I sang Mr. Lee for the rest of the day!  I was about ready to kiss Mr. Lee because he did like his car cold and I finally had chill bumps at the end of the hour drive to our hotel!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Lee.

We checked into our hotel, the Westin Chosun.  It is beautiful.  They just had their grand reopening this month- what a great time to be here!  We unpacked, had a sandwich in one of the hotel restaraunts, and went to bed.  We'd been up about 26 hours at that point.

(control panel for the TOILETS in our hotel lobby- way too much!)

(We're all ready for our baby girl!)

(view out our window)
This morning we met our Holt issued tour guide , Hye Won.  She was very sweet and stayed with us most of the day.  We toured a couple of museums, Gyeonbok Palace, and Insadong Market. 

Changing of the Guards

(emperor's Cadillac- 1914)

Musical instruments

Throne Room

Korea's Blue House- like our White House

Concerned citizen in Insadong Market.  "Dogs are Friends, Not Food"!  There were several people staging a protest.

(Green Tea/Pistachio & Hello Kitty donuts from underground Krispy Kreme)


After our tour we came back to the room for a quick nap and then did a little exploring of the underground shopping areas.  We had Krispy Kreme's for dinner- I was ready for some good sugar!!  We got a few necessities at the 7-11 and discovered a couple restaraunts we want to try.  We then walked around our hotel grounds where the Temple of Heaven is located.  We also discovered that the Guiness Book of World Records has certified the Westin  as The Oldest Hotel in the Republic of Korea!  Cool, huh?

ceremonial drums

Guinness Book Plaque at our hotel

The "R" in room is right under our window.

Now it's off to bed.  Tomorrow we're going to try and find the hospital where Eliza Grace was born.

sorry the post is so all over the place layout wise- blogger's being a little weird! And spellcheck isn't working either :(