2022 Asia Trip: Day 4 - Jeonju, In Full

There is probably on its face not three days worth of things to do in Jeonju. That's no slight on Jeonju - there are probably two days, and this place also has a great vibethat would allow you to stay longer and not get bored of just "living" here. But that doesn't take away from the simple fact that I'm slowplaying my tourism here. I'll do more of this as a retrospective tomorrow when I'm back enroute to Seoul, but until the typhoon altered my trip, I was not planning to come to Jeonju. But having done so, I'm glad I did.

This day would be seeing a lot of what makes Jeonju into a destination that does have some distinct tourism value. From the large Hanok Village (that is admittedly its main draw), to bibimbap,a  dish that it is widely known for. to the lush mountains and forests that surround it. Jeonju does have a lot to offer.

The day started with a quick pastry and coffee from the bakery next to my AirBNB, a bakery with a phenomenal smell. From there I took a cab down to the heart of the city, one edge of the Hanok Village. Hanok means "home" roughly, and this large area is built with traditional architecture, cobble stone streets and largely represents a facsimile of what Korea looked like, but with modern trappings. The stores, restaurants, cafes, that make up the village are all bordering on trendy. I plan to get lost in the village matrix later in the day, but I did stop in for a coffee in a large cafe with again impeccable decor (truly, Korea has the best coffee-shops of any place I've been to). The first stop though was kind of the entry point into the Hanok Village.

The Jeonju Hyanggyo is a fairly mid-size temple complex built to currently house a Confucian-based school. I arrived as people there were preparing the grounds and decorating it for the upcoming Chuseok festival, but they didn't me mind just aimlessly walking around. It is built in a corner of Jeonju that borders the rivers and a large hill (the Eastern Hill), so the setting was very tranquil. From there I walked through the Hanok Village - making the aforementioned cafe stop, on the way to the Jeonju's primary hitorical tourist attraction, which was basically a supersized version of the Jeonju Hyanggyo.

Historically Jeonju was a major city in the Joseon Dynasty, that ruled Korea from the late 1300's through to the Japan takeover in the late 1800s. Gyeonggijeon in the center of the city - across the street from teh cathedral - was built as a shrine in 1410 (it has since been destroyed and rebuilt 2-3 times) at the start of the Joseon dynasty, and is dedicated to Yi Seong-gye, the first emperor of the Joseon, and in many ways the father of the country. 

The complex has a series of temple structures building to a shrine about 3-4 in which houses a replica of the King's Portrait of Yi Seong-Gye (the real one is housed in an archives in Seoul). The place is built to look like it was in the old days, with teh same paint colors and design of all Royal buildings. To one side is a recreation of the 'annex' which is a series of smaller buildings that were living quarters, kitchens, churches, of the emperor's people in those days. To its other side is a building that gives a quick explanation of the archival process taken to keep safe the Joseon Archives - painstaking bookeeping records, war records and things that are basically diaries, of all 600 years of Joseon rule.

The last part of the complex is a building in the back called the Royal Portrait Gallery, which si what it says, housing protraits of six emperors. It is clear to mention that the Joseon had many more emperors - about 30 in total - and portraits of the others were lost in various fires, and for whatever reason chosen not to be recreated. Because of that, the gallery is a bit of a half measure, but it is small, indoors and a nice capstone to this shrine to the Joseon Dynasty - a far more important part of the culture of Korea than I realized.

After the tour of shrine, which included a 30-person guided tour in English which was a nice touch, I made the trek to another shrine of Jeonju: one of its noted Bibimbap houses. Jeonju is noted for bibimbap, something that is credible enough that Unesco has called Jeonju a city of gastronomy worldwide largely for its excellence and history of bibimbap. The most famous place is Hangkook Jib - which I may go to tomorrow, but from my research, the place known as the best is called Jungang Hoegwan, a fairly nameless place on a side-street. It was well worth it.

I was lucky to get a table, arriving around 12:30. By the time I left at 1:20 or so, there was a 10+ person line outside, and a stack of stools for further people in the queue to use. The first thing I received was like 10 small plates, half with various kimchi, half with desert type small bites, one things of glass noodles and anotehr thing of a baked fish. This came with no real explanation, unsure if thise was stuff to mix into the bibimbap bowl that would come, so I more or less just waited. In about ten more minutes the bown of bibimbap fixings, a pot of just cooked rice, and a soup, were brought as well. For what was about $11, this was a ludicrous amount of food, but it was all excellent.

The bibimbap itself was "mixed" by me before I guess a staff member took pity on me and took over and whipped it up beautifully in two minutes and gave it back at just the right amount of homogeniety. In the end, I have to say that the bibimbap, plus the literally 12 small plates, was an incredible meal. I'm definitely hopping back to one of the other bibimbap joints for lunch tomorrow as well. When in Jeonju, as they say.

From there, I took a taxi (love the app) to go on a visit 40-minutes outside central Jeonju to the Wibongsa temple complex, which sits in the foot of the Wibongsa state park. The drive out was through series of luscious greenery, with the odd coffee shop (still fancy) as the break between ravines and woods and hills. The place is fairly isolated, and while there is a bus that takes you from there back to Jeonju, it was hard to get any reputable information on how frequently this bus ran. I pivoted to using Google Translate to communicate to the taxi driver that I would pay 40,00 won (basically double my fare coming) if he were to wait an hour and drive me back. Somehow we broke through the language barrier, and I was able to explore without a fear of how I would make it back.

The Wibongsa Temple is beautiful. The temples themselves are less ornate than those in say Vietnam, but on the whole they are sturdy, and in this setting fit in so well with the large rolling mountain behind it. The temple complex was laid out in a very open setting, taking good advantage of the large space it has, with almost Japanese-like trees, great greenery and even a few monks that were doing laundry (random, but worth a comment). From there, the other site nearby is the Wibongsa Waterfall, a 90-foot waterfall into a ravine nearby. I walked the 10-15 min or so from the temple to a lookout, deciding not to do the further 30-minute walk to the actual waterfall. The view, with a pretty sizable waterfall falling into a deep nothingness of green forest, was quite beautiful in reality.

The gambit with the taxi driver worked, and after a while I w2asn on my way back to the city, to do what I've somehow avoided doing until this point, which is just walk around the Hanok Village. I did get some lubrication first, going to the other outpost of Nomadic Brewing, this being a combination indoor/outdoor spot in Hanok Village. I wanted to meet the guy behind this place but alas I did not this day either. The beer was good, even convincing me to grab four cans to take home, the first purchase of my trip.

The Hanok Village extends in a few directions. The Nomadic Brewery outpost is on one of the two main "roads" (quotes being this is basically a pedestrian area with the odd car to disrupt the flow. The road with the brewery is the more traditional one, with most of the buildings being "home-stays" which are people essentially renting out their houses full time for a true local feel. If not that was a few very expensive art shops and cafes. The other main street was far more commercial but still really nicely done. Still a lot of traditional architecture, and a stream running right next to the sidewalk for the full 1km length, and more commercial shops, restuarants, cafes and the rest on the road. This part was humming a bit, and I definitely spotted more tourists (i.e. white-people) here than in the rest of Jeonju combined. Not that it was a bad thing. Jeonju does hardocre tourism well.

For dinner I ambled over a couple blocks away from the Hanok village to what was a throbbing scene of restaurants, bars, etc., and a generally young crowd. A local who spoke English told me tomorrow is a holdiay (in anticipation of Chuseok - the main Holiday - on Saturday) so it is a bit more crowded than normal, but not so much so. I chose a korean bbq spot for dinner, that had about a 30 min wait but nothing too difficult. The experience of the meal itself was a blast.

Unlike most korean bbq places, whether in USA or Korea, this one serves only pork - either pork belly or pork ribs, that the servers manage and grill for you on a hot-stone like griddle rather than an open flame. Whatever the particularities or the process, the results were fantastic, little scissor-cut strips of pork belly grilled well and then given multiple things to dip in or plop on, like wasabi, mustard, salt, gochujang, a red bean paste, etc. Like all great Korean places, it still had its 8-or-so plates of kimchi and litle bites. Overall, Mung-Yoko (the name of the place) was well worht the wait.

For my last night in Jeonju, I ventured a bit further away, heading out to an area near the University, that was truly hopping. It was what you picture when you think of ngith in Korea or Japan - loud music, bright signs, korean bbq places and bars everywhere. It was a bit disarming, but remained fully enticing. My first stop was an underground bar serving a truly giant list of whiskeys and cocktails made with said whiskeys. It had the decor of a turkish hooka lounge It required you to take off your shoes and wear slippers. It was just a strange place, but it was great. I had a few rounds of a Korean whiskey generously poured (granted, generously priced - Korea is a fairly expensive place when it comes to drinks that are not soju). What was more interesting to me really is that when I left, about 75% of the patrons were women, including groups of 2-3 women. Nothing wrong with that of course - if anything I found it pretty cool that this place is mainly attracting folks that generally wouldn't go to this type of establishment in the US.

My final stop was at Pub Grizzly, which is more liek the normal places that make this college adjacent area humming. It was a college-type bar that could easily have situated itself in any US city. It was mostly locals, but had about 10 westerners, who I found out over tiem were exchange students (Korea just started letting exchange students in about two weeks ago) which was kind of cool. But then again I'm 10+ years older than these folks and largely found them way too noisy. I'm old is what I'm saying - or at least I want to be prepared for this. Jeonju was suppsoed to be the relatively quiet nights ahead of what is to come in Seoul... It may not have ended so, but it was still cool to see this little slice of Jeonju.

2022 Asia Trip: Day 3 - Getting Around

I ended last night with a small sense of "why did I even come here" after my issues of not being able to make it back to the hotel. After the hotel booked a cab for me (it was an expensive black cab, but in my mind at least assured myself that I'll get one), but barely gave it enough time to take me to Yongsan station, things were seeming not to go any better. But I made the train, and enjoyed my two hour ride in the KTX bullet train from Seoul down to Jeonju. I slept for the first 75 minutes or so, then spent the remaining time researching taxi apps that Korea does allow to be used. I ended with one called Kakoa, which was tough to get through to realize how exactly you are able to use it. The default way (and the way that lets you pay through the app) requires you to be a Korean national. But you have the option of "paying the driver".

I tried out the app for the first time when arriving in Jeonju station, and thankfully - it worked! It grabbed me a taxi in about three minutes (and avoided me waiting in the breathlessly long taxi queue) and took me to my destination - the first hike of the trip up to the Dong-Su temple (which has a great lookout of Jeonju as well). The hike was tough, mainly because while the weather was a calm, sunny 80 degrees, it was still roughly 90% humidity, and the hike was fully uphill for way too long. The temple at the top was nice, even better that from its perch you had a great view of the more sprawling city than you would think. The walk down was a bit harrowing as I took it straight to ground level, walking from there about 40 minutes to the Nambu Market wher I was planning to get lunch. The walk took me in a parallel route from one wall of the Hanok Village - Jeonju's main site. The building were ornate and delicate, the shops I walked past enticing. I plan to get lost in there tomorrow.

From there, I did finally reach Nambu Market. It isn't a true food or shopping market, and half of it is only open on the weekends, so parts of it were a bit empty. But it its center was a nice collection of stores selling the normal tourist wares (I avoided), some pretty fancy looking coffee shops, and a set of restaurants that were all filled with koreans. That all appealed to me. I ended up sampling two spots, having probably in total 1.5 meals. 

First was a hand-cut noodle place, where I got a noodle soup (which is basically what it seems, a ton of these pretty thick, really tasty noodles in a pretty sweet tasting broth, As with all Korean meals basically, it came with a series of small plates holding various kimchis and other nuggets. The second place was a bit more off the beaten path and pure 'Jeonju' with a place that specialized in Korean Blood Sausage. I probably made a slight mistake getting it in a soup form - though the soup itself was quite good, spicy, and flavorful. Two soups though in a row was probably a bit much. The soup itself was better in teh blood sausage place, but the various kimchis were worse - so it evens out I guess. In the end it was a fulfilling two meals - even if I'm leaving Jeonju's greatest specialty - bibimbap - for tomorrow and day after.

After my time in the market I did a mini walking tour of central Jeonju, past the "Gate", which is basically something of a temple built over an old fortress wall, that now stands alone in a central circle within the town. Next to it was the Jeonju Cathedral, this being one of the main strongholds of Catholicism during a brief period of time in Korea when the Christians tried to grab a few folks. The cathedral was surprisingly crowded for a tourist attraction, with well maintained grounds, a few statues, including of the initial Korean missionaries that were largely killed for not conforming to Confucian ideals (as the plaque read, at least). Inside, the cathedral was a bit sparse, reminding me of similar churches in Goa or Mangalore, or other common Indian Catholic strongholds.

From there I went for a bit to a coffeeshop oddly run by and situated over a bank - called JB Cafe (JB being the bank). It was beautiful on the inside, had fast working wifi (I banged out the first half of this there), and really nice coffee. On the whole, Korea seems to take their coffee extremely seriously. There are a bunch of cafes here (and in Seoul) that are just excellent in terms of decor, quality of coffee, and none are too expensive.

The next stop was my biggest test of my newfound taxi app, taking a journey out of the city proper to the Korea Expressway Corporation Arboretum. Why the mouthful of a name you may be wondering? Well, the Korea Expressway Authority (basically the entity that runs the highways) was pressured to do something about pollution and decided to just fund (and potentially run?) a botanical garden carved into a random slice of a corner of Jeonju. Weird reason for it existing aside, the place is just about the right size. Not too large to be overwhelming, but large enough to let you escape a bit in it. A good comparison (for the probably zero people that are part of this intersecting venn diagram) would be the Parque Terra Nostra we went to in Ponta Delgada a few years back.

Some particular favorites were the large lilypad area, a bamboo garden with 15+ ft tool bamboo shoots, and a series of flower and tree areas built into a makeshift fortress wall. On the whole, the Arboretum was a great hour or so, and I now have full confidence in the Kakoa app, as I was able to get a taxi in about a 5-min wait to take me from there back to Jeonju station to pick up the bags I had left in a locker there.

The AirBNB was the next stop, in a residential part of Jeonju - this being a city that has about 4-5 fairly busy  commercial areas strewn out around its limits with sleepy residential neighborhoods in between. I don't often talk about my AirBNB accommodations here but I do want to call out this place. After a few nervous minutes messaging the host trying to figure out how the cieling AC (think of one of the AC machines often found in stores) worked (and boy damn did it work), I was able to actually take stock, and the place has some incredible features. First, it has a whole almost fridge-like device that is used to steam and/or hot-press clothes. It has a cool little tap water contraption that I was able to figure out to use despite it being in Korean. It is a truly modern abode.

After some R&R (still fighting off the last vestiges of jet-lag, which I'm sure would have been a whole lot worse if not for the first class flight...) I headed back out to central Jeonju, to Nomadic Brewing. This place is owned by an American beer lover who came here many years ago. He's from Michigan, which I love given my own love for Michigan-based Breweries (e.g. Founders). The American wasn't there today, but the place left an impression. First off, it had by far the best beer I've had so far in Korea. Yes, it took an American expat to do it, but after a so-so start yesterday at Namsan Chemistry, this renewed my faith in Korea being able to match up to Taiwan or Vietnam in terms of best craft beer outside of USA (admittedly, haven't really tested this in Europe).

For dinner, after a spree of last minute googling, I decided to go to Heugism, which was a Korean Tonkatsu restaurant. Tonkatsu is very much Japanese - the famous sliced pork deep fried with panko. I'm not exactly what makes this a "Korean" version of it other than using local pigs - apparently their specialty here was the tenderloin cut, which is generally not used in the classic version of what people think of when they think of tonkatsu. Anyway, the place was pristine, the food was excellent. Their sauces, including a "curry" that was positively Indian in its taste, were excellent additions. 

The food was great, even if their menu was all in Japanese. I guess the local understanding of Japanese is a lot better than I would have expected, as they didn't even have a second version in just Korean for people. Anyway, after dinner I walked back around to Nomadic brewing, passing a few cocktail and wine bars that were just opening up with the dinner crowd wrapping up. On the whole, I've seen a few foreigners and clearly toursits around today but Jeonju - at least during mid-week - is very much a local's town.

Nomadic was a bit more crowded, still with mainly locals (seemingly - for all I know these could be people from other parts of Korea). But the vibe, from the great selection of beers, to the music (a whirlwind of 70s-90s Americana), to the setting and it was all great. Truly, if I ever could, I would want to just open a series of places like this (or the place in Granada that was run by a guy from Denver) in my favorite random smaller towns globally. Sign me up for the Menezes Brewing Company - locations in Punta Arenas, Cusco, Calgary, Cape Town, Luang Prabang, and Jeonju.

After Nomadic, I went to a place whose name in Google Maps shows up in just Korean, but outside they had a sign saying "Cocktails | Wine | Beer" and a classy looking interior - not to mention fairly good reviews in both Google and Naver. I should pause for a second to talk about Naver - basically Korea's version of Google. It has the same basic interface, with the one issue of me not being able to figure out how to turn it on English. Anyway, it has been a lifeline for driving and transit directions. In the end, my first half-day or so in Jeonju was quite good, but to be honest figuring out Kakoa T and actually feeling like i can get around this wide world of Korea on demand again is a lifesaver worth more than another great day of being a tourist.

2022 Asia Trip: Day 2 - Seoul, in brief

I generally combine the first two days of these diaries - namely because the flight (day 1) is never enough by itself. Well, given the particularities of my flight this time, it very much was so. Instead, the Day 2 entry might be the lighter one. To fast forward slightly, I'm off tomorrow morning on an 8:40am train to Jeonju (8:40 stands for "extremely, extremely early") in my book, and while I wasn't at the time I started writing this in my mid-day beer break, I'm sure at one point it will be true that I'm jet lagged.

Anyway, this first day in Seoul was not planned to be overly busy. It was a bit of a gift - originally the day I landed into Seoul, the plan was to leave for Busan. The other complexity of the trip is traveling during what is South Korea's Thanksgiving, Chuseok, which is occuring the following weekend. The extra day in Seoul allowed me to do the things today I was planning for that day (the final part of the plan is to turn that day into more of a day trip). The other, other, complexity was the good old Typhoon that made me alter the trip in teh first place. As the rocky descent on the plane attested to, I landed very much in the last remnants of heavy rain.

Tired, and arriving far to early to actually do anything (4:30am), I decided to try to nap in the bowels of Seoul's massive, beautiful, but hilariously far away from downtown, Incheon airport. It worked well enough, but around 7am I left by cab to the district that would be my home for a day - the infamous Gangnam. The hotel was the Intercontinental that is stuck to one corner of a massive three block sprawling complex named 'Coex', part mall, part convention center, part office building. By the end of the day, I would become much more familiar with it.

After unsurprisingly being told my room was not available for my 8:15 arrival, I ventured out under cloud and drizzle, the last few moments where this damned typhoon would play any part in my trip. I walked to a coffee shop, the first non name brand one to open (8:30am), called Kihei, where I tried to slowly sip down a well made flat white. While the rain had basically stopped, the lingering humidity would not relent until tomorrow, and coupling that with Seoul being a place that largely has an enforced indoor mask mandate, and it wasn't comfortable, even as the sun started poking out by around 9:30 or so.

With still some time to kill before my first planned stop (the Starfield Library at the heart of the underground Starfield Coex Mall), I then walked across the street from the Coex building to the Bonguensa, a multi-leveled buddhist temple, with many ornate buildings, and a 23-foot buddha statue way in teh back. It wasn't a hike in any real sense except for the humidity and my general weariness after flying making me sweat buckets. During this time the sun fully came out which while adding to the heat was also a bit uplifting.

The Starfield Mall was an experience. Three levels all underground, it houses the pretty awe inspiring Starfield Library at its center. The Library has two levels of floor to ceiling bookshelves in an open atrium with a glass ceiling. It really is the most interesting little library I've seen - though I do question how anyone can actually read a lot of the books that are on the upper shelves that seem fully out of reach. The rest of the mall had an incredible scent throughout and a mixture of fancy brand name stores, coffee shops and weirdly a Pan Am store with Pan Am merch?? 

From there I braved Seoul's pretty good metro system for a few min to go over to my lunch spot which was more in teh heart of Gangnam. The neighborhood itself, made famous by PSY's song way back when, is known as a more trendy but also flashy and foreigner-friendly encalve, but the lunch spot - Manjok Ohyang Jokbal - was anything but foreigner friendly. The place is known for dishes utilizing pig trotters and I got one of the lunch specials which was three bowls of various kimchi type snack portions (all good, especially a sweeter mushroom one), a dish of braised pig trotters, another kimchi, sticky rice, and a pot of what I thought was soup but realized after a while was getting cooked down in front of me to egg, dumplings and some odd white thing that I couldn't place. In the end, that got mixed with the kimchi and rice, with pig trotters and a gochugaru based sauce on the side, to become a pretty nice lunch for $7.

After lunch was the one true bit of tourism on my first day, visiting the sprawling War Memorial of Korea museum. It has some similarities to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh, including an impressive collection of old aircraft, tanks and ships to the side, but the inside was something of half history museum of Korea itself (detailing the many wars, conquests and lineage of its trading hands), and half museum of the Korean War, which very much unlike in Ho Chi Minh, the Americans are somewhat hailed here.

The museum had a lot - it was less impacting as the War Remnants Museum (no surprise there - that one called one of its exhibits the "Gallery of Atrocities"), but nonetheless but in painstaking detail the whole war. It also had large exhibits on the Korean Army helping abroad, the UN coming to Korea's aid (mostly the US - the US lost more people than every other country, excepting Korea, combined), and much more. Some parts were tranquil, a particular haunting exhibit was a black room with a spotlight shining on a sculpture of 1,300 ID tags put together in the shape of a teardrop. Some parts were informative, such as original copies of UN resolutions around bringing aid to Korea. On the whole it was a very worthwhile 90 min.

From there I went to Namsan Chemistry for a couple beers. They have their own beers, plus a few from other Seoul craft spots, and of course a few American choices (though craft ones, no Budweiser nonsense). I had a fairly underwhelming IPA and a very overwhelming Stout. The atmosphere was great even if it was unsurprisingly pretty empty midday on a Tuesday. The windows were open, a cool breeze coming through. The place is in a nice, more low-key area of Seoul called Yongsan. More so when I return on Friday for five days, I will become more intimately familiar with the neighborhoods that Seoul has within its urban sprawl.

After finally getting my hotel room and taking a short cat nap, I was back out to head to Yongsan, basically two blocks away from where i just was (great planning on my part), to a place that in English seems to be known as Mr. Ahn's Craft Maekgolli - the last word of that being a korean rice wine that the place serves in bottles. They also have amazingly crafted, presented, interesting food. Despite google telling me Tuesday is their quietest day, I arrived at 8pm to a 45 minute wait. During the wait a walked a couple blocks over to Magpie Brewing, a Seoul outpust of what is a Busan brewery (a place I would have gone to). Their hazy IPA was quite good and the setting quite chill, semi-open air on an alley off of a crowded street. So far Seoul has a lot of Taipei vibes, in a good way.

Dinner was excellent - they have a menu of 5-6 "single bite" dishes, of which I got three - an abalone, yuzu cream and apple dish, a korean pulled pork taco, and a fried "bitterflower" with Korean jamon. All three were great. The main though was one of the best non-tasting-menu dishes I've had in a long, long time. It was a cuttlefish, stuffed with pork and mushrooms, over a splatered plate of squid ink. It was just incredible. I couild have had two if I tried. The place was definitely worth the wait - it is avaialble for reservations with about 1-week notice.

After dinner I strolled aroud the area, checked out a cocktail bar which was great - classy decor, great mixologists, interesting cocktails; it was quite expensive though, roughly $18 for a cocktail, which seems to be the going rate at the more upper end cocktail bars in Seoul. While Korea reminds me a lot of Taipei, its prices are certianly closer to Tokyo.

The night ended admittedly poorly, and I was writing this on the day of, I would be much more engraged. Korea doesn't allow Uber, and my research into a suitable local replacement was spotty,so I was left trying to hail a cab, which I treid to do for about 40 minutes. Not that there weren't cabs - either they just speeded by despite being empty (something that I honestl chalk a bit up to racism), or refused to go where I was headed. In the end, I took a combination of bus and subway back, making it a 90 minute ordeal from leaving cocktail bar to bed, instead of 17 (had I just gotten a taxi).

As I'll write more about in tomorrow's piece, this hopefully won't be a problem again. In the end there will be a whole lot more of Seoul to come, but the first impressions - my issues getting a taxi aside - are all very positive.

2022 Asia Trip: Day 1 - The "First" Flight

In 2012, I went to Singapore as part of a class trip with NYU, flying on Korean Air to Singapore. My enterprising Dad decided to sign me up for Korean Air miles right before that trip, to which I earned about 12,000 miles. In about 2015 or 2016 or so, Korean Air sent me an offer for a credit card. Not really sure why, but they did - and I took it, grabbing another 40,000 miles. Back in those days, Korean Air had quite a few transfer partners (e.g. Chase Rewards), and through those I was able top drive my balance just over the 80,000 points it required to go first class from New York to Seoul. That was the target, the dream. Due to a combination of covid and Korean Air's more than liberal 10-year mileage expiry policy, it finally came true.

This flight is the start of a wider two week trip that was first planned for May 2020, planned in the sense that flights were booked, a few meals were reserved (particularly, Gaggan), and of course the intervening two years from May 2020 to now had about five different delays to the trip. Every time I was hopeful that maybe six months down the line, the world would allow me to finally take the trip. By this September, 2022, the world is ready. Most countries done away with vaccine or test requirements (Korea a slight exception, requiring a test on arrival). Most places open in full, and I was certainly ready to take advantage.

Before I could though, I was thrown one last hiccup. I was supposed to leave on Friday, September 2nd, through LA, but Wednesday night I realized that Korea was due to be hit by a typhoon from Saturday through to Tuesday. I would be arriving in the middle of it - which was OK because Seoul would be just getting rain, but the first two stops on my trip were Busan and Jeju Island, both right in the line of fire. In a scrambled 12 hours I rearranged parts of my trip, losing two days (and Busan in the process) and trading Jeju Island (which would be recovering from the typhoon) with Jeonju. This was largely a net negative, but the one positive is now the flight I had into Seoul was from JFK - a longer flight in first class and avoiding a six-hour flight to LA first.

Korean Air first class is my first true "first class" experience. I've flown business class a handful of times, even a few outside of United, such as Singapore (which I'll be doing again to end this trip - miles are a wondrous thing). I had seen some of the reviews so I had a decent idea of what to expect, and it still blew me away.

While the suite is not the giant overly luxurious suites that say Singapore Airlines has, it was a large space, with a big TV, a massive tray table (that required the flight attendant to lift it out), doors to give you decent privacy, and enough room to easily stretch out and sleep on whatever side you like. The amenities like their slippers, toiletery case, pajamas and all were excellent. The two elements that were just miles above anything I'd flown on previously was the spaciousness and comfort of the bed (again, it was basically a true twin bed size, which in plane terms is giant) and the food.

All I really knew coming in was the Korean Air first class was famous for their bibimbap, and I did partake and can agree with the many positive reviews. What I didn't realize is the first rate meal even outside those things. The food service started about 20 minutes after takeoff with a first drink and nuts, with me opting for what I assume is a fancy champagne (it was fancy enough my sister knew of it and basically ordered me to get it). From there they lay out a tablecloth on the tray table, and bring you sparkling metal cutlery, and another round of drinks, this time me opting for Johnny Walker Blue Label, something I've maybe had once or twice in my life. Here it was basically as much as I wanted.

The meal was basically five courses, the first being an excellent raw salmon and scallop with large rice crackers and avocado & caper cream cheese. It was something that truly belonged in a restaurant, both in terms of presentation and taste. Next was a cauliflower and asparagus soup, which was much tastier than it reads. I should mention these two and all the dishes were served on pristine china. Then was a lemon sorbet palate cleanser, before the bibimbap arrived.

I should note there were two other options for dinner, but how could I not get it, and I'm glad I did. What I was presented with was audacious in its size and taste. In the middle of the tray was the elements of the bibimbap sans rice, with the rice to the side and a squeeze packet of Gochujang. We were told to mix it all up. But aside from that centerpiece, was kimchi, pickled radishes (oddly my favorite single thing), a couple pieces of sliced braised short rib, and a seaweed soup. It was all great, it was all a bit overwhelming, and it lived up to its reputation.

After the main was a desert of very nice cheeses and fruit (admittedly, the fruit was standard fare). There was a set list of options of items available throughout the flight, for which I got ramen about 2/3rds of the way through the 14:30 flight. The ramen also was excellent, incredibly spicy which I wanted and served nicely with the picked radishes again. I took a risk on the breakfast, opting for the asian breakfast, but overall I'm happy I did. It was a pungent, tasty, fish and tofu soup - not sure how it was breakfast, but it made you warm and definitely full. Along with that was a course of cereal with milk and yogurt first, and fruit at the end. On the whole, I'm sure there are even more delectable first class dining options out there, but I can't imagine anything having the combination of the incredible quality and the almost comical quantity.

After the dinner, I eschewed immediate sleep trying to get something close to resembling a Seoul-timed sleep schedule, and held off for a couple more hours, but then gave in and had them do their turn-down service, with a multi-level mattress pad, comfy sheets and one of the softest pillows I've had on a flight. Again, by far the best bed I've had on a flight, which makes sense given this is first class and not United Polaris - or Singapore business.

The flight itself was a quick 14:30 - if anything I would've loved a few more hours in the paradise that was that Korean Air B777-300ER first class cabin, eight seats, two rows, and me feeling like a high roller. It's the magic of points, and in this case a 10-year odyssey finally coming true. From the false start two years ago (granted, Covid cancelled those plans about three months before the trip would have happened), to the dreams that point balance made me think of before it, there was a lot of buildup. Korean Air knocked it out of the park.

Entering the GoT World Again

This last Sunday we took a trip down memory lane, thrusting ourselves right back into Westeros. I joined nearly 10 million (not including those who watched in the later couple days on HBOMax, or illegal streaming or what not) in this exercise. And seemingly the initial response was cautious optimism that this might be... good?

Go back six years, and this doesn't seem strange at all. Game of Thrones was the biggest show on television, finishing its sixth season with Dany crossing the Narrow Sea, Sansa and Arya back on top at Winterfell, Jon being named King of the North, and Cersei laying waste to the entire heads of state blowing up the Sept of Baelor. It was an incredible final episode capping a great season and setting us up for what was supposed to be an incredible end.

Go back three years, when Game of Thrones finally ended, with Bran ridiculously being named king because of the power of "good stories" or whatever, and the fact 10 million people would watch another minute of story in Westeros, and it seems bizarre.

Since that finale, the way we as a society perceive Game of Thrones the tv show changed completely, and deservedly so. The rush-job, patchwork, plot idiocracy that was the last two seasons, and particularly the last one, really did just damper the entire run of the show. It really left me, along with many, many others, wondering if we've thrown hours and hours of our lives away watching the show from its start. But a funny thing happens over the course of three years. 

No, my opinion of the show's end has not changed. The ending was still terrible. But time has allowed us to more easily separate the show's end, and more pointedly the show's creators, with the source material and the world of Westeros that intrigued us in the first place.

It's clear as day that the lasting legacy of Game of Thrones won't be so much the world of Westeros's terrible end, but the show's creators throwing their careers away for no real return. It is funny how much HBO has gone over and above to make it clear David Benioff and DB Weiss have zero involvement in this show. And who can blame them. The show went off the rails when Benioff and Weiss literally lost the plot - in the sense when the show caught up to the books and passed them, Benioff and Weiss had no real ability to craft a show without clear source material.

While I do give them some defense in that when the show started they probably did think Martin would release at least the penultimate book, if not the final one. Martin didn't, and they basically lost their minds trying to play storywriter for the first time. More worryingly though was their seeming lack of passion and desire to just wrap it up. Them shortening the last two seasons, when they had to cover basically 1.5 books, was just a maddeningly dumb decision. Maybe they wanted to move on, but as many interviews with actors, and other HBO people, have shown, no one else wanted to speed up the finish.

Anyway, it is easy to shift all the blame for the sour taste Game of Thrones left us with to those two guys. And man have we all done so - from Disney then pulling away a Star Wars trilogy from them, to their ill-fated week when the world figured out they were trying to do a show about a US where the Confederacy won the Civil War. Benioff and Weiss are done for. Which is good because then we can at least attempt to believe in the Westerosi world with those two far, far away.

Coming back to the actual House of the Dragon show, it is far too early to say if its good or not, but at least it seems to have a clear point of view. It isn't, at least for now, as sprawling a world as even Season 1 Game of Thrones was, and that may be for its benefit. I love the little touches and hints and names of families and people we came across in the mothership show. It all is nostalgic, but in a good way. 

This could break down over time, for sure. While it is easy to place all of the blame on how Game of Thrones ended with Benioff & Weiss, we have to at least admit that they were around for when the show was good as well. We have to see if the new show-runner can do a good job here. But there's an opportunity to take advantage of the fading memory of how terrible the Game of Thrones ending was, and take us back to the world of the show we used to love in the first place.

Pre-season NFL Season Predictions

Will probably update this right before the start of the season - only changes based on QB or major All-Pro level injuries.

My Top-10: Beer Bars, Cocktail Bars, Clubs

On a combination of my travels for pleasure and some for work, I've set-up a spread sheet with the same general outlay each time. Some of it is arranging what I want to do each AM and PM and Lunch and Dinner. But there's a spot for night. There's a second tab then that breaks "adult/drinking" activities into various categories: Craft Breweries, Beer Bars (i.e. a place known for beer on tap, but not specifically a brewery of its own), Cocktail Bars and EDM Clubs. So, let's put aside craft breweries since honestly while some stick out I've just been to way too many by now, let's go with the other three to build a Top-10 of each.

Best Beer Bars

12.) Magerks  (Horsham, USA - 2018)

It's weird ranking this one but I'd gone there enough during my project in suburban Pennsylvania that it easily makes the list. It was a giant upscale BrickHouse Tavern type place, but with a far more extensive and interesting tap list of about 30-40 beers, all servied in a giant bar in the middle. The kept the wall of windows open which gave a great atmosphere. They showed every type of sport on their TVs that were above the giant rectangular bar. All of this was great. The place it was in? take it or leave it. If this same place was in a major city, it might be Top-5.

11.) The Raleigh Times  (Raleigh, USA - 2019, 2020)

A couple of these are places I went to during various consulting gigs, including The Raleigh Times, built in the ground floor of the old newspaper building. Technically this is a full service bar more than just a beer bar, and often I went there for food when arriving into town on a late flight. But from a drinks perspective they had about 20 local (Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia) beers on tap, with a great variety of styles, ABV levels, etc. The place also had a really relaxed vibe, with music on a rooftop - though this was more reading it than seeing it as generally that was on weekends.

10.) Loyal Legion  (Portland, USA - 2017)

No surprise that a place like Portland that had itself a crazy collection of craft breweries, has a place where they had about 60 beers on tap, at least half being local craft beer. The bar is large, and in theory is a full service bar, but the imposing row of taps make it clear where they make their money. The beer list featured a ton of stouts as well. In the end, the over-abundance of options is somewhat of a drawback. You would think a bit more discretion could be used. 

9.) NYKS  (Montreal, Canada - many times)

So this one is largely on the vibes side but they do have a solid beer selection, including 2-3 beers of 2-3 local Montreal staples, including generally dark/stout beers. The atmosphere, spitting distance of the Place des Festivals where the Jazz Fest is held. I did go a few times unconnected to the Jazz Fest - including in the dead of winter arriving late into Montreal, it was just a great little refuge in the heart of the city.

8.) 

7.) The Wandering Tortouse  (Phoenix, USA - 2021)

This is the first of two Phoenix places, and I have to say Phoenix has got the beer bar concept locked down perfectly. Giant bar in the middle, tons of seating everywhere else. A giant tap list, of mostly local brews, with a brillaitn color coded system on how they write it, with all IPAs in Green, all Stouts/Porters in purple, all ales in white, all lagers in yellow. So simple, so smart, so effective. Why the Wandering Tortoise is a bit lower than its Phoenix companion is its location being a bit outside the city. It was perfectly fine and safe, and the place was great, but not super easy to get to.

6.) Falling Rock Tap House  (Denver, USA - 2019, 2020)

Falling Rock closed down during the pandemic, more due to some odd rental dispute. It is hard to imagine it is gone. The place was an institution in Denver, and had a giant tap list of nearly all Colorado based craft breweries. I went there maybe four or five times and the place was a joy each time. The only thing keeping it from being higher up is the fact that the decor was a bit blah. There was a lot of normal bar trappings (novelty signs, sports jerseys, etc.), but ti was too bright, too much like a Buffalo Willd Wings type layout. Get past that, and the place was about perfect.

5.) Draught 55 (New York City, USA - many times)

I could put a few New York City options up here, but limited it to one. Picking Draught 55 over my other two favorites of Blind Tiger and Valhalla because being a just barely Upper East Side lcoation, it is far less noisy, crowded and more pleasant to just sit in and have some beers. I had a friend who lived close to Draught 55 and we had some great times there. Also doing so with work happy hours with our office being in earshot. The beer options are plentiful, the set-up is quite nice with ample seating. The place is as close as you can get to leaving the hustle and bustle of New York.

4.) Hop Scholar Ale House  (Spring, USA - 2018, 2019, 2020)

Most of my picks are in cities. Hop Scholar is very much not. It was in the Houston suburb that I both had a project in, and where I have a cousin that lives in. If anything there's a back road from my cousin's neighborhood that leaves directly to Hop Scholar. Anyway, as a place, it is everything. They have about 20 beers on tap. A very healthy amount of interesting stouts. It doesn't limit itself to Texas, but features enough local options to make it interesting. They also had a good food selection, with elevated pub fries and hot dogs. It was a refuge of a place on a project where I was alone for a long stretch. I don't think anyone should go out of their way to visit here, but if you ever find yourself in The Woodlands, hop on down to Hop Scholar.

3.) Toronado  (San Diego & San Francisco, USA - 2014, 2017)

I believe these two are if not owned by the same people, at least linked. The San Diego location has closed, which is a shame as to me it was slightly better than the San Francisco location. In both cases the place had a weird collection of people (headbangers, goths, everything else) along with about 25 beers on tap. Much like Wandering Tortoise I believe there's some color coding done in the way they show their beer, but I couldn't discern it. Toronado takes full advantage of the wealth of craft beer options in both cities, and were easily my favorite night options in either city.

2.) BarHop Brewco  (Toronto, Canada - 2017, 2019, 2020)

Situated in a dark, dive type bar, with a wall with a projector showing either sports or some old weird movies, and a tap list of about 30 beers, high majority being Canadian, BarHop Brewco was a fascinating place to visit. Half of the brews were sold at $5 CAD on Monday's, which is often the place I went. They had a good mix of bar and table seating. And they had great food - especially a PBJ burger that I had way too much. Everything about BarHop was great, including the crowds whether weekday or weekend. Best part was it was right in the heart of the city, but a block or so off the main drag. BarHop was close to perfect.

1.) The Theodore  (Phoenix, USA - 2021)

As perfect as BarHop was - it wasn't The Theodore perfect. I went there my first night traveling post covid, and it was great. I went there three times that trip and then went months later when I went to Phoenix for my friends wedding. I dragged our mutual friend that was also there to it late on a Friday, him being skeptical, and even he agreed it was fantastic. Giant bar, huge tap list, with that everpresent color coding that I love so much. No food, but food trucks aplently all around. Truly right in the heart of the city, serving as excellent place to either end the night or start one. The Theodore is about as perfect a place as I can picture when someone says to me what a great Beer Bar is.

10 Best Cocktail Bars I've Been To:

10.) Drink Kong  (Rome, Italy - 2019)

I only have this on the list because it is an oddly well reputed cocktail bar, ranking high on the World's Top-50 list. That said, we did not appreciate it for that aspect at ALL. We went there fully drunk past midnight on what became April 7th, 2019 (my brithday), and just had nameless drinks. But at the end, it is world reknown as a cocktail bar, so sure I guess it deserves inclusion here.

9.) Rabbit Hole  (Bangkok, Thailand - 2019)

They didn't have the greatest drinks, but had super creative, generally fruity ones. The decor was nice, a good mix of fanciness without any pretension. The place was well crowded with a good vibe even on what was a Sunday night. Overall The Rabbit Hole was a perfectly great place in a city with probably more reputed, but not as calm options.

8.) The Gin House  (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 2019)

This place may have closed down, it is hard to tell, but The Gin House was a great place in Ho Chi Minh City. My only real complaint is they get a bit too crowded, largely because they had live music Wednesday through Sunday - granted the music was generally good. The cocktails were great. Yes, most were gin based, and I was lucky enough to come when they had a resident mixologist from New Zealand of all places visiting, but they were smooth, refreshing and a great starter for a night out in Ho Chi Minh City - the place I would go to after is coming up in the next category.

7.) Little Red Door  (Paris, France - 2018)

This place is on the Worlds Top 50 list, and it certainly hits all the right marks. No sign and behind a red door (obviously). The drinks were good, the presentation was good (I remember one drink was served in four parts in four different boxes). The decor was nice. It was all very proper, all very grand, all very Parisian. Honestly, it probably should be higher, but I just didn't go and/or try their selection enough.

6.) Meteor  (Minneapolis, USA - 2022)

It is hard to judge a place like Meteor, which has zero of the acceptable levels of pretension that come with all five above it. If anything it is set-up like a dive bar, with low lights, mostly bar seating and gourmet hot dogs rolling, but has an inventive, playful cocktail list of about 15 regulars. Their use of strange ingredients, like Sesame in a bourbon-based cocktail, or coconut milk in a gin-based one, was excellent. It isn't too expensive coming in at $12 a pop. They even have a decent draft beer list if you want to mix it up - granted that has no real impact on the ranking here.

5.) Milk Tiger  (Calgary, Canada - 2019)

Milk Tiger had the chillest vibe. It wasn't too big, but I guess also wasn't overly popular. Generally you always had a table or a spot at the bar, and the bartenders wouild regale you with stories - as were the collection of crazies that went to the place - while they whipped up excellent $10 (US) cocktails. Milk Tiger specialized in gin based cocktails, which really opened my eyes to what you can do with that liquor. It was a nightly spot to hit before going to an EDM club that will show up in that ranking.

4.) Carnaval  (Lima, Peru - 2022)

Carnaval shows up the Worlds Best 50 Bars list, and after going there I have to say it earns that spot. It gets crowded, but is in a posh area of Lima, doesn't let in more people than they have seats for, and had a great energy aroudn it. The drinks were wild, in both preparation and design - things like alcoholic cotton candy as part of a play on an old fashioned, to a frozen watermelon cocktail that is melted when you tip your glass to combine it with a mint cocktail. It was all a scene, and it was just great.

3.) Wa-Shu  (Taipei, Taiwan - 2019)

Wa-Shu was a Japanese Cocktail Bar in the heart of Taipei that I went to twice. The bartenders were quick to tell me that they were Taiwanese, but the cocktails featured Japanese-based alcohol mostly. I had multiple Japanese Whiskey based cocktails, including my favorite being a weird one that used peanut butter seeped through a coffee filter to create a peanut butter old fashioned. It was one of the places with no supposed menu, where we tell them a certain flavor, or fruit or type of food, and they'll whip up something that makes sense based on that. It worked every time. The Wa-Shu guys knew very much what they were doing.

2.) Cause Effect  (Cape Town, South Africa - 2020, 2022)

Cause Effect shouldn't be this good. It is placed right in the heart of the most touristy place in Cape Town. Basically this is like if a bar in Times Square was an amazing place. But somehow it is. They are easily the most inventive cocktail makers. Nearly all of their 20+ standard cocktail offerigns are a production, with props and set-ups and incredible staging. My favorite was one where you are given a plate with a depressed area in the middle, which is covered by an image of a bird and you're told you need to puncture the image which then combines with the cocktail below it to create something magical. The place has to be visited to truly understand it, but it is just incredible, and I can't overstate enough how brilliantly weird it is that this place exists in the V&A Waterfront.

1.) Licorecia Limantour  (Mexico City, Mexico - 2018)

I went to Licorecia Limantour without even knowing it was seen as a world renowned cocktail bar. It is high up the Worlds Top 50 bars. Granted, they have multiple locations - I went to both the main one and one in Polanco. Both have the same menu. Unsurprisingly a lot of cocktails were tequila or mezcal based but they were all crafted brilliantly. None were to too strong, all were super smooth to put down. The place had a great vibe in the heart of the city's more trendier areas, with an open layout letting you basically step inside from teh street. Licorecia Limantour was a marvelous part of my trip to Mexico City, and has only increased its reputation since 2018.

8 Best EDM Clubs I've Been To

8.) The Loft @ Skyway Theater  (Minneapolis, USA - 2022)

On the downside, they had maybe the worst drinks of any of them on the list, which is why its 8th. Admittedly they were strong, but their "soda" component of my whiskey soda order was basically water. But at least they were cheap. Anyway, let's get to the upside of the place. It had maybe the best ventilation system of any large space club i've been to. It was so airy, despite being crowded (not overcrowded) and them going heavy on the fog machine. Also the acts the day I went were spectacular. They seem to curate well as the place isn't open every day on the weekend. Great place, just don't expect drinks.

7.) Culture Club Revelin  (Dubrovnik, Croatia - 2017)

I debated whether or not to put this on the list, mainly because it is more of just all-around club than a EDM/House club. Granted they played a lot of that music, but they also played hip-hop, and had girls dancing in cages, and was more of a pure play party spot, than anything else. Not that it's bad. It migth be the best pure club I've been to, certainly the coolest atmosphere, but to me it fits on the list. Just go there knowing what it is.

6.) Savage (Hanoi, Vietnam - 2019)

I have another Vietnam spot higher up the list. They are very similar in structure, but the main knock, the only knock, I have on Savage is that it was underground so it was a bit hot. They have one area that you enter that has more poppy house playing and a full bar, with another full bar in a shadowy back room that was hardcore EDM. Perfect mix of options, with full ability to move from one to the next. Savage also had full supply of balloons, more to come on that in a second here. Vietnam also has maybe the best bar service of any of these - in these cases the drink aspect is as much as the music, at least for the entry bar / area.

5.) Modular  (Cape Town, South Africa - 2018, 2022)

I have to say, Modular gets way more crowded than my places at ahead of it, but they did a great job of not really making it feel that way, with three full service bars in the same area. They also had a pretty great ventilation and air conditioning. It was packed though. They had no real regard for crowd control. Modular had some of the better DJ sets I've heard in terms of quality top to bottom. If even you're in Cape Town, would fully recommend going there on Thursday. It's slightly less crowded, but every bit as good.

4.) Habitat Living Sound  (Calgary, Canada - 2019)

I'm not sure if they're open or not. They definitely closed for good soon after the pandemic, but then re-opened in 2021, but seem to have closed again. Anyway, it was an experience. The only real downside is that it wasn't that big of a space, but on the plus side, they had excellent crowd control, shockingly cheap and decent drinks (i.e. if you ordered a whiskey soda you got a decent amount of whiskey), and the DJs were all pretty good. The good crowd control actually made this one of the more pleasant clubs to be in. I mourn for Canada's loss here.

3.) Reset  (Cape Town, South Africa - 2020)

RIP, as this was another one that was a Covid casualty. Luckily Modular still exists, but Reset was just a better venue. With two levels and two performance spaces, a bit more light on the second floor, more heavy in the underground one. Bars had a lot of bartenders. They had great ventilation. The crowd control was decent, but just having it across two floors just made it all seem bigger and better. On the whole Reset was a fantastic place and a real loss in terms of nighttime entertainment for Cape Town.

2.) The Black Box  (Denver, USA - 2021)

There's one major question mark in ranking The Black Box this highly, and that is the fact that when I went in August 2021, they were still doing a reasonable amount of crowd limiting due to covid. There was no mask restriction, but they were operating at half capacity. That said, even if you double the crowd I don't think it would have been so much worse. The space was great - with lounge area with another DJ space when you enter, and a much larger space in the interior. Other than my place at number one this place had the best bar set-up, with at least five bartenders working, and the ability to go to the bar in the outside area at any time. The music was uniformly excellent, with generally three acts that all were great each day.

1.) The Observatory  (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 2019)

From the truly loungey lounge that is its main area, to a full service bar with tons of bartenders that make things quick, to the plentiful balloons, to the light, airy indoor more heavy EDM club that had great ventilation, to it also being on the fifth floor with great sightlines of Ho Chi Minh City around you, The Observatory was close to perfect. That Friday and Saturday night spent at it was about as good as it has ever been in a club experience. You truly feel like you are at a rooftop bar one second, and a hardcore EDM club the next. Just an incredible set-up, great msuic, great balloons, cheap but good drinks, and a great crowd with a good mix of locals and expats. It all added up to a perfect experience.

The Twin Cities, Pt. 2: Day 3-4

Day 3

The started a bit aimlessly. I had already checked off most of my main items on my list of things to do in the first couple days. I had a dinner reservation at 8:15, but for a Sunday that left a lot of time. I decided to be a little adventurous and head over to the intricately linked lakes, canals and creeks that make up the famous Lake Minnetonka. The one surprising thing that Lake Minnetonka did not have is a lot of walkable coastline, but it is a great place to just drive around aimlessly.

The map of Lake Minnetonka, and the various towns and inlets that surround it, is a fascinating tapestry. The lake itself a giant rohrsach ink blot, allowing for truly miles and miles of jagged coastline surrounding the vast lake. Some of the views of the lake itself are stunning, and with this being a slightly windy day even giving us some nice waves. There are boats everywhere, with me coming early enough to seeing a lot of people just go on their boats for a nice day asea (alake?..).

Also what this entire area has is a lot of really nice homes. I plan to do a proper Zillow session of these areas to figure out what prices are like, but there are many large, modern, beautiful looking single-family (i.e. 3-5 bedrooms, not too big) homes with the lake in their backyards. There are a handful of small parks or lookouts scattered throughout the random walk of roads I drove on, but really it was more just an atmosphere of lake houses, architecture, greenery, with a giant lake peeking out on one side of the road always, that made it quite a good experience.

I had two real stops in my time in Lake Minnetonka, first being the town of Excelsior, which is an upmarket kind of New England Coast type town that comes right in the middle of the lake. Think posh local arts shops, probably overpriced restaurants, a few kitschy souvenir spots, but at the end of the day a nice view and large open marina. I did stop at one of the shops and bought what I saw to be the cheapest thing in there, a wooden block coaster with an etch of Lake Minnetonka on it.

The other stop was Back Channel Brewing, which I was a little worried would be more of a touristy spot than having actually great beer, but I was surprisingly wrong. It was definitely a bunch of lake people visiting but their tap list was lengthy, and the two beers I got, an IPA and a Irish Stout were both excellent. They had a visiting food truck where I went for my lunch. They had an open side of the space which had a direct view of Lake Minnetonka behind it, and an incdible breeze blowing in off of the lake as well.

From there I drove back to Minneapolis, heading to a potential souvenir spot in Homespun, which was far more affordable than the place out in Excelsior. It was small but had a few nice Minnesota-shaped or Minnesota-themed handicrafts. 

The last bits of tourism for the day were two museums, one truly local-focused - the Mill City Museum, and then the other being the Walker Art Institute (the indoor companion to the sculpture garden from my first day). The Mill City Museum was perfect in a way. Not too big, being one interactive exhibit and one large open area exhibit, but so pointed in its focus. Minneapolis apparently was the most productive flour milling city in the world at the turn of the 20th century through about 1940. This museum was a testament to that industry, and the company that grew out of it - the one we know today as General Mills.

The interactive piece was a audio-visual trip through the mill in a grain elevator, with little exhibits on each floor that you went to sitting in the massive elevator. The open area had small exhibits touching on the prodcution process, labor strife, advertising, the slow-burning war between the Washburn-Crosby Company (the predecessor to General Mills) and Pillsbury, their biggest competitor that General Mills then bought. It is such a unique aspect to this city that was jsut really well displayed. The only annoyance is the lack of pillsbury or just advertising based merch in the museum store. I'm guessing maybe they don't have the rights potentially. I mean they could be selling plush Pillsbury Doughboys hand over fist!

The Walker Art Museum was a quick traipse through one large modern art sculpture exhibit, three exhibits of their rotating collection, and a side exhibit featuring the art of some British guy. Again it is impressive if only you wouldn't expect this place in Minnesota to be so full of art. When I say "you shouldn't", I largely mean that as a put-down on myself. Maybe many would have known.

Following was my last "new" brewery as from here on out the 1-2 I go to will liekyl be repeats. This one was Falling Knife Brewing Company, which seems to be both the most successful (I've seen their beer at multiple bars in the city) and most industrial. Their taproom was a small area of a much larger facility. What they lack in decor (and I should note, it isn't bad or anything, just a bit simple) they more than make up for in the quality of their beer. Both their Hazy IPA and Stout were excellent. At some point I'll probably have to do a brewery rankings of Minneapolis. Again it is always hard to say these things when every year more and more open, but Minneapolis is probably right there with Denver as the best beer city I've been to.

I lied - I was summarily told to leave Falling Knife - granted this was because they were starting an event at 6pm that I didn't have a ticket for. So instead I headed on over to Dangerous Man Brewing, the last one on my list that I had resigned myself to not visiting. I'm glad I did. It wasn't the biggest space, but maybe had the best variety of beers. Their hazy IPA was fine, but their cream stout was incredible. The decor was nice, if more "traditional" than many of the other open layout places I went to otherwise.

Dinner was at Sooki & Mimi, one in a group of popular Minneapolis restaurants. This wasn';t some fancy tasting menu, just a traditional dinner in a trendy spot. Most dishes had a hint of asian flavors to hit, including my two: a korean chicken wing starter (great, dusted gochujang instead of what I was expecting which would've been messy) and a pepper-crusted butchers cut with a korean sauce. 

After dinner was a quick stop to Meteor which was far more relaxed than the prior two times, and then a hop over to Dusty's a classic dive bar in the Northeast Minneapolis district (where Meteor is as well). Dustys had an outdoor alley where most of people were, but I sat inside at the bar with about 10 other people (some left, some more came - I left around 1:15am and it was still about 10 people). They had a decent tap list but I followed a few patrons ideas and had a white russian to cap it off, all the while a latin jazz DJ was playing. It was a pretty unexpectedly chill late-night Sunday crowd.

Day 4

My last day would see me try to do things without feeling too depressed of this vacation ending. I had planned this trip for a while, but in my early iterations I was spending Sunday, Sunday Nigth and most of the day Monday in Duluth. I went away from that partially because Duluth didn't seem as interesting as I initially expected, and Minneapolis seemed to have a few too many things to do to give up that time. In the end, not sure I made the right decision but the last day did see me get closer to nature.

The first part was a walk around the Minnehaha Falls park, which was a nicely manicured little park above either side of the Minnehaha Falls that flow into the Minnehaha Creek which flows into the Mississippi River. The falls themselves weren;t at full power - a local said usually it is a bit drier in the summer months, but the area itself was nice with some statues, manicured gardens, etc. I then went for a drive down the Mississippi, stopping at a few lookouts. It is amazing how peaceful this giant river seems in this part of the country. 

Following a quick lunch at Sammy's Avenue Eatery - a notable sandwhich shop that sells basically a perfectly elevated, delicious version of a subway sandwhich but with just way better of everything - I checked off two remaining parks, the Nicollet Island and Boom Island park, connected to each other within minutes walking by a nice rickety wooden bridge. 

Both parks are on the river bank across from main Minneapolis, so you get nice view of the city on the other side of the Mississippi. The views on Boom Island were better because whether intentionally or by accident there were nice little outcrops without greenery and direct sightlines to the Minneapolis skyline. Nicollet island had some nice art and the famous Grain Belt Beer sign (their version of Baltimore's Domino Sugar, or the Coca-Cola sign in Brooklyn). Both islands were really pleasant to walk around. The greenery thrown aroudn the city around its river reminds me a lot of Calgary actually.

After a final stop at Inbound where I bought a shirt in lieu of beer to go (Minneapolis craft breweries almost exclusively sell oversized cans that they just call growlers that are quite unwieldly), I took in my last bit of tourism - checking out the Mall of America. Yes, it is a bit commercial (I mean it is a mall after all) but the sheer size of it, the giant amusement park in the middle, the large Lego exhibit, the mini golf course, the time it takes you to circumnavigate it. All of it was overwhelming and interesting. They had decent food options, with a "Food Street" row of restaurants and bars at the back on the 3rd Floor, and the "Culinary on North" upscale food court on the front side - upscale meaning thai food, birria tacos, shake shack and no pando express in sight.

It might be weird effectively ending my trip at the mall, but the Mall of America is the thing that Minneapolis is maybe most known for. Certainly it is one of the first things I learned about the city apart from the fact that there are people from Scandinavia. It was a reasonable way to end the trip, especially since it is a stone's throw from the airport.

This basically concluded my trip to Minneapolis, which as a city is about as nice, and I'll say this - maybe the most livable city I've visited. Granted, I only went in the summer and not the winter, but right now it was a perfect 80 degrees / 60 at night. There was never really much traffic, and this is after driving basically all over the city proper. The different neighborhoods are a good time. Even beyond the endless supply of breweries, they have a food culture that is beyond "burgeoning" at this point. I got to go to Travail, but there were a half dozen similarly well reputed fancy places, and many well reputed not as fancy (one of them beeing Sooki & Mimi). 

As a place to visit, it has some sites but while it wasn/t the outdoor paradise that my last three Summer Mountain/Midwest trips were (Salt Lake City, Calgary, Denver), it surprisingly could make up for it with better indoor sites than maybe those cities. From the Minneapolis Art Institute which was just endless and quality, to the Mill City Museum, to Paisley Park. Next time maybe I'll rent a small boat for Lake Minnetonka to complete the routine.