Centum City Saturday - Busan

 Last November some friends went to Busan for a spectacular fireworks show. This show takes place every year and is one of the most significant fireworks festivals in Asia. I love fireworks, so Linda and I booked hotels way back in March or something. Because who would have imagined that Covid would still be a major life disruption 8 months later?

Well, as we all know, the Rona is still a major life disruption. The festival has had as many as 20,000 spectators in the past, so yeah, it was canceled because, Covid. We kept our hotels and spent the weekend in Busan anyway.

Daisy rode with the Ts, so Zeke and I walked to their hotel, which was just 2 blocks away, to get her. Busan is the 2nd largest city in South Korea with a population of almost 3.5 million. Totally safe to walk at night. Yay, Korea. 🙌

We got a good start on the next morning with a breakfast stop.

We stayed in Centum City, which is very near Haeundae Beach and the port. Port of Busan is Korea's busiest port and the 5th busiest in the world. After breakfast we walked to Shinsegae Centum City, which is registered in the Guiness Book of World's Records as the world's largest shopping complex.

From there we walked to the Museum DAH, which is the digital art museum.

This museum is very loud, visually busy, interactive, and quite unique.

I feel at home with the Koreans because they love to take pictures. That point is brought home upon entering the DAH; there is a makeup room so you can look good for all the pictures you are about to take in the museum. 😂

After the makeup room this was the first 'exhibit' we came across. See what I mean about busy? It just got busier the more we went.

Zeke and Eli climbed right into bed.

Eli upon the 'throne.'

There are our friends the Gludsteds! We had plans to meet them here.

There was a room upstairs with temporary exhibits. This one the artist chose red because it is the most noble color; it is a symbol of life and at the same time expresses wounds. 

This deer represents origami.

Splish splash I was takin' a bath.

These two had had enough art.

The next stop on our itinerary was the Songdo Marine Cable Car. This just happens to be the first cable car in Korea, but they call it the Air Cruise.

We purchased the 'Crystal Cruise' with a glass bottom.

Once we got to the observatory station at Amnon Park, we found a few moving dinosaur displays with sound. Dinosaur footprints and fossils have been found in the forest of Songdo Island.

 Your dreams can come true, or so they say, by hanging them on the wings of the Dragon of Wishes. There is of course a legend about lovers and a dragon at Songdo Sea.

There is room for 10,754 scales/wishes.

We passed the dragon as we made our way to the Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge.

Daisy, Susie, Astrid and Julius are looking at the sea below.

The pedestrian bridge takes you to nearby Dongseom Island, makes a circle and leads you back. The city planners have said the bridge is shaped like a lucky key and when you walk around it, it will bring you good luck.

Aww... a dad and his son having a moment.

There is a lot more to do at Amnam Park, but we ran out of time. We had to head back to Busan for our next adventure.

Sightseeing is hard.

We barely made it back to the hotel in time for a brisk walk through the park to Busan Harbor to catch our yacht.

We made it to slip #3 at the Suyeong Bay Yachting Center just in time for our sunset tour.

That's Daddy and Lijee coming up the dock.

There's more of the gang.

They warned us it gets cold at night. I was not taking any chances! You see that Zeke is still in a t-shirt and shorts.

The Yachting Center is located next to Marine City. 

Gwangan Bridge is the second longest suspension bridge in the country at 7,420m (about 4.5 miles). It is a double-decker bridge, with one-way traffic on each level.

We sailed along the edge of Marine City, which is one of the ritzy parts of Busan to live in.

This is Dongbaekseom Island. In the 9th century a scholar named Haeundae Beach because it means 'sea and clouds.' He also built a pavilion on the island to admire the view of the beach. Over the years sediment has connected it to the mainland but it is still referred to as an island.

Right past Dongbaekseom Island is Haeundae Beach. I believe this statue of a man with a telescope was fashioned after that same scholar, but I'm not certain about that.

A sunset cruise on a yacht brings out the romance.

I spent the majority of the cruise on the front with the kids because that's my favorite place on the boat.

The sun disappeared and the night lights on Gwangandaegyo and along Gwangalli Beach began to shine.

Lijee discovered that I was sitting right above the restroom and he could open the window and call to me.

The girls giggled and had girl talk the whole time.

Gwangandaegyo is sometimes referred to as Diamond Bridge. The LEDs display a light show at 8:00 and 10:00, but we were too early to see it.

After enjoying the breeze on my face up front, I finally made my way back to join the ladies.

Linda, Theresa, Lotte and me

I even took over the wheel!

(Not really.  While the captain was busy in the back of the boat I quickly jumped up to snap a picture  before I got caught.)

All of us 외국 waygooks (foreigners) posed back on the dock.

We walked back to the mall to get dinner. We were thinking it would be a good place with a lot of variety. Alas, the food court was not like American food courts and it was not easy. Finally we all agreed upon Pei Wei. The host saw our group walk up and without a moment's hesitation said nope! They didn't have enough food for a group this big. 😳???😳 As the adults were deciding what to do about dinner the kids had had enough. They popped a squat at a nearby furniture store.

Abe had a touch of sea sickness so he did not come along for dinner. I said I would take the kids for pizza and the grownups could eat Pei Wei. We had a booger of a time trying to find a pizza place in the mall. Finally we decided to walk to Papa John's, which was a few blocks away. My kids had been wanting to eat there after they spotted it on our morning walk to the museum anyway.

Vacationing with friends is fun! The only down side is that we do not take family pictures because everyone is scattered. The only family pic we got was one in the hotel on the way out. The guys drove home in one car, and us girls did some shopping in Shinsegae Mall. I mean, if you're at the world's largest shopping complex, you gotta...

[November 7]