Seoul Tower, Myeong-Dong, and Korean BBQ

Today was my first day exploring Seoul. I started with some toast at the hostel, and met some people staying here as well. I researched a bit what I should do today, and then decided to go with two people from the hostel to Seoul Tower. We ventured to the subway, which took us to Myeong-dong station. We then began our trek up the hill to see Seoul Tower. The hike to the top was quite a lot of steps, but had some very nice views. It was a bit smoggy, but overall it was at least warm.  My heart rate got quite high, yet somehow my watch only recorded 6 minutes of exercise. Lame. 

When we got to the top of Namsan we saw an area with a ton of locks. Probably the densest number of locks I've ever seen in an area. It was pretty cool. They also had cotton candy shaped like a bunny or a bear. We eventually made it to the ticket booth, and bought tickets to go up to the Seoul Tower observation deck. The views from the observation deck were quite amazing, providing a nice panoramic view of the city. The observation deck also had a candy store, which was super random, and a gift shop. I bet after a good rain when the smog is clear it looks stunning! Even the bathrooms had amazing views! 

After spending some time at the top of the tower we went back down and explored the area of Myeong-dong. There are a lot of shops and small restaurants. I bought a mochi covered strawberry, which was yummy! We then had some dumplings for lunch and then went back to the hostel to rest a bit, and I had a shower. Some of us then (5 of us from the hostel) went for dinner at a Korean BBQ place. It was pretty good, some meats I liked better than others (just really different cuts of pork and beef). After dinner I stopped to grab a cookie and then headed back to the hostel. I read my guidebook for a bit and then off to bed.