Surprisingly fun: Seoul 2006

Little boy reading a lighted ad in the floor

(This is my second post about my trip to Seoul in 2006. Part one is here.)

Seoul is very modern, and very western. While I was disappointed with my more traditional tourism experiences, mostly because it was just too damned hot, I loved absolutely everything else about my trip to Seoul. Along with a terrific and meaningful conference experience, I loved the people, the food, the hotel, and the city of Seoul itself.

Too hot for tourism: Seoul 2006

I love the Winter Olympics.

However, this is not a piece about the Winter Olympics. For years, I've intended to do a post or two about my trip to Seoul back in 2006. Now's the time.

Museum Day

Did you know that professional librarians have specialties? Many librarians even have a second masters in their subject area along with their masters in information science. I don't have a second masters, but I do have a specialty: art. In 2005, I was working at a relatively well-known art museum in Los Angeles.

The Eiffel Tower, of course

At the top of my "what I must do in Paris" list was taking a tour boat down the Seine. I freely admit that it's a cliche, but you have to take a tour boat down the Seine.

Notre Dame de Paris

(I'm reposting this 2015 piece I wrote about my visit to Notre Dame de Paris, for obvious reasons.)

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have finally pushed me into posting about my Paris trip in August, 2005. (I can't believe it was ten years ago!) I had managed to wangle two days in Paris at the end of my eight days in Oslo. Obviously, two days is not enough. Honestly, a full year in Paris is not enough. But two days were all I could afford at the time, and I was determined to make the most of it.

Pining for the Fjords

The morning after the city tour and cultural evening, I woke up feeling blue as well as stiff, from all the walking. I was thinking about my late sister Ruthie again, that she had never gotten to do something like this. I thought about her a lot during this trip, my first to another country.

They're stark naked, so get used to it

The highlight of my trip to Oslo was the "cultural city tour." We took a bus through the city. I sat with a man named Henry who at first thought I was British (I was born in New Jersey – I do not sound British), and who then asked me questions about my workplace, most of which I couldn't answer.

Bits of Oslo, the Spektrum and the King

The view from the hotel.

I attended an international library conference in Oslo, Norway in August of 2005.

As I mentioned before, I grew up poor and have been working poor most of my adult life. I'd never had the money or opportunity to visit a foreign country, and often thought I never would. Norway was the first foreign country I ever visited, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I kept a journal, which is where these posts came from. (I have a good memory, but not this good.)

Get outta town

Four Corners Monument, March 2014

I've always longed to travel. Haven't done much, though. It always comes down to money, doesn't it?