The first leg of my 10 day trip brought me to Milan, the fashion capital of Italy. I did not get a chance to run while in Milan. I was too jet lagged to function and focus well on why I was actually there, so the little free time I had was spent sleeping in a very small hotel room on a very small bed. But I did get a peak of the Duomo there while looking for a place to eat.  Those pigeons were more aggressive than the NYC pigeons.

My trip took me to South Korea for the first time and boy was I blown away! It was rainy season, but I managed to do a 3 mile run around the Gangnam district-yes that Gangnum district. The one that Psy made even more famous with the Gangnam style song and video on Youtube.

I set out on what I thought was the direction of the Han River which divides Seoul into a north area and a south area. But alas, I ran in the wrong direction.  It was quite busy and that should have been my first clue that I was going the wrong way, but I was clueless and couldn’t really read the street signs.  During my 3 mile trek in the wrong direction, I came across exactly one other runner.  If I didn’t stand out before in the city, I certainly did that morning while running amongst the people hustling to get to work. I’m sure I’m on some random website running in Seoul, because a few teenagers found me rather peculiar and snapped a few pictures while giggling and pretending to jog. When I ran by the group, one of them yelled “wow” really loud, it actually startled me. It was then that I decided to head back to the hotel. I guess all of this could have been avoided if I’d asked for directions before leaving the hotel. But I felt a sense of familiarity with Seoul and decided to venture out on my own.  I figured I’m going out and back in a straight line, so what could go wrong.  Fortunately, I did not get lost, but I could have. The Gangnam district has many sides streets and layers and layers of nooks and crannies that you could spend a week exploring and possibly not see all of it.  I found Seoul to be vibrant, fashionable, and very welcoming overall, I can’t wait to return to actually run along the Hans River and to see more of S. Korea.  I made some new friends and had the guidance of a dear friend who was born and raised there, so I felt like I got a great introduction, but their lists of “must see” and “must do” requires a return trip for a vacation.

There’s an extensive path for bikes and walkers (I saw on my way to the airport, that walking seemed to be the exercise of choice), on both sides of the river, so I was a little disappointed that I went in the wrong direction when I had the small window of opportunity to actually run in the streets of Seoul.  Did I mention that I can’t wait to return? I mean where else can I get this sort of deliciousness?