N Seoul Tower

The Namsan Tower is the highest point in Seoul, located on Namsan Mountain in the center of the city. It offers the best panoramic views of the city. The popular way to reach the tower is by cable car. We went on a Friday night shortly after 7:00 pm and didn’t expect the massive crowd of people we found lined up to ride the cable car. A sign at the entrance displayed that it would be 1 ½ hours waiting time from the point we were standing. Douglas and I immediately thought the same thing, “Heck no!” I noticed a taxi stand behind us that appeared to take people to the tower. We quickly got out of line after just a few minutes and walked rapidly to catch the next taxi. To our misfortune the taxi driver told us he could not driver to the tower. The only way up was by the cable car or foot. Seriously?!?! Now, we stood there looking at the long line that we just left, pondering how we would finagle ourselves back to our original spot. I completely forgot who was standing in front or behind us, but I did have an idea of who was around us. I took a quick glimpse through the line and tried to spot someone that look friendly. Don’t ask me exactly how I came to my conclusion. It’s all instincts! 

We took our chances with a gentleman standing alone who later told us that he was Kiwi. We heard New Zealand was absolutely beautiful and would love to visit there. If all Kiwis are like him then it must be a wonderful country. This guy was awesome! Not only did he let us stand in front of him with no questions asked, we wound up befriending him nearly our entire time at the tower. Good company surely made the wait go by that much faster.

The sign listed proved to be correct. We waited in that line for at least 1 ½ hours before boarding the cable car. It was a quick ride and thank goodness for that because the car was packed! There wasn’t even any room to pull out a camera for a few snapshots. Once we reached the tower, we had to purchase tickets to ride the elevator to the top. You mean after paying to ride in that jam packed cable car and the long wait it took to do so, we still had to pay more to wait longer and go higher?!?! Okay, I guess. We paid the second fee and then waited approximately another hour and some minutes to board the elevator. After all this I was thinking something free and awesome better be at the top of this tower!

We finally reached the top after what seemed like several hours later. Unfortunately, the sky was not clear that night so the views were very blurry; nothing spectacular. We walked around the area and observed each section though. Douglas and I always make every venture interesting; even the ones that make you go hmm… 

The best part about visiting the tower was placing a lock on the fence which can be found on the same level as the cable car. No need to ride the elevator to the top for this experience. While in Hanoi, Douglas purchased a lock for us to put on the fence. I had no idea he opted to purchase the industrialized lock to signify our love. The fence was coved in locks of all sizes. There were locks on locks on locks! Now we just had to find a free space to fit ours. We clipped our love lock in an empty space and tossed the key over the fence. It would be pretty cool to go back there in the future with our children and view our love lock. That part made our N Seoul Tower experience worth every minute of waiting. Good times.

15 minute walk to N Seoul Tower / Cable Car Entrance

This is the line on the first level. There were three levels total. Once again...phones everywhere.

words to live by

the infamous elevator!

Instead of waiting in the same long line to take the Cable Car back down, we chose to walk. Going down is so much easier than going up!

 

Asians love throwing up the "peace" sign in pictures. Who are we to change the rules?