Alleluia in any language...

Today we played tourists.  We first went to the Myeongdong Cathedral for 10:00 Mass but we didn't get there on time.  We haven't mentioned yet that not many streets in Korea aren't marked with street signs.  It makes it difficult to locate places even if you have a map.  The directions to our food tour were, "exit the subway station and walk straight for 5 minutes."  In this case we could see the Cathedral but couldn't figure out how to reach it.  We eventually spiraled to the center and found it.  By then it was 10:40.  They have Mass on the hour almost all day long on Sunday.  The only English Mass was at 9:00 and clearly we didn't make that so we sat through Korean Mass.  Amen and Alleluia are the same in either language so we participated some.  Fortunately Mass is the same everywhere so we at least knew what was going on even if we didn't understand the words.

After Mass we made our way through the Myeongdong fashion district to N Seoul tower.  N Seoul tower is the highest point in Seoul though much smaller than the Willis tower in Chicago.  It is still a good vantage point to see the city.  We took a cable car to the top.  We went to the observatory and took pictures.  We also ate lunch up there.  There is a tradition at the tower that people leave padlocks on the tower.  It supposed to be a demonstration of your love that will last forever just as the padlock will remain on the tower forever since you throw the key away.  We placed a lock in honor of our family and our adoption of Yeong Eun.  We also saw some cultural demonstrations.  They used big swords and cut stuff violently (Gabe you would have loved it).  We then walked down the GIANT hill rather than riding the cable car.  Boy are we out of shape.  After a few hundred stairs my legs were shaking.  We got back to the hotel by 5:00.  This is the earliest we have gotten back to the hotel since getting here.  I think we may try to have a quiet night.