As you saw yesterday, our morning was off to a soggy start. Despite the weather, though, I really did enjoy walking out of our hotel and into a world that is immmediately so foreign to my own:
We walked down the alley that leads to our hotel:
And headed into one of the more popular cafe chains in Seoul – Paris Baguette.
(A friendly door greeting)
Paris Baguette had a wide selection of pastries laid out around the store. We picked up trays and metal tongs and looked through the selection:
The food titles themselves were fun.. For example, you’d never see something advertised like this in the States nowadays:
Even though gluten abounds in doughnts, in this age of Celiac Disease (both real and appropriated), food vendors shy away from advertising something as “Glutinous”.
You also don’t run into a lot of “Morning Garlic Baguetttes” in the States.
Soon we each had a tray full of pastires:
Clockwise from the top: Gooey Cheese Bread (delicious!), Leek Pastry, Purple Sweet Potato Doughnut, and Belgian Waffle.
We also each ordered a beverage (hence the buzzer on the tray). I looked through their menu of drink choices, and decided to wing it with something new and unknown – “Iced Fruit”.
Jason ordered a mango smoothie, which arrived in a cup with eyes to add the necessary Korean cute factor:
And then my drink arrived. When I ordered “Iced Fruit” I expected a slushie of sorts or perhaps a snow-cone-type of drink.
This is what I received:
That behmouth there has a layer of finely-shaved ice covered with milk and honey, a layer of tropical fruits, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a sprinkling of corn flakes. Holy cow. I’m sure it was one of those times where the ladies behind the counter shook their heads when my back was turned because obviously I had no idea what I had just ordered. The fruit and ice parts were pretty tasty, though!
Master Class 