I’ve been in Korea for four months now. In that time, I’ve enjoyed bits and not enjoyed other bits but I certainly haven’t had the experience of falling in love with the place which others sometimes talk about. This past weekend, I went to Seoul to spend time with an old friend and do some exploring in Korea’s huge, sprawling capital. I arrived on a rainy Saturday morning and the weather didn’t warm up the whole weekend, although thankfully by Sunday it has stopped pouring with rain. In spite of the cold and wet, by day two of the visit I found myself becoming aware of how different the two cities are. Seoul is beautiful and the area my friend is in is particularly lovely, made even more special by the fact that she lives on an attractive university campus. Marita van der Vyver talks in her book Where the Heart Is about how she went to Provence in October partly because she didn’t want to get swept off her feet by the picture-postcard loveliness of the place in summer, and found herself falling in love with the October beauty of it instead. I went to Seoul on a cold, wet autumn weekend and it didn’t take long for me to find myself, ever so slightly, just a very little bit, falling in love with Seoul.

The next few posts will be a series of individual tales of various parts of the weekend, exploring with a friend, enjoying wonderful dinners and new places and falling a little in love with Korea’s capital.