A Seoul Spring: The Cherry Blossoms of Yeouido!

They're very nice to look at and pretty to take pictures of, especially if you're walking the road with your special someone. It's like a very romantic stroll along a very flowery lane, while white cherry blossom petals are showered upon you two like Cupid's non-archery version of his attempt to put you together to live happily ever after.

But while you are walking hand in hand, so enamored with each other and with the blossoms surrounding you, whispering your devotion to each other on this cool spring day, you may just forget the reality:  Thousands of other people are walking alongside you, across you and against you, jostling for space and creating such noise that you two won't even be able to hear each other! Ha-ha-ha!

That's the cherry blossom festival at Yeouido!

Thousands of friends, lovers, parents, kids, vendors, blind-daters, photographers, tourists (or maybe a million after it's all gone) may have walked through the Yeouido Park and Yeouiseo Road (or Yunjung-ro) to enjoy, take photos, spend a weekend at, or just simply to experience this once a year festival before millions of white cherry blossom petals from about 1,400 trees turn the lane into a white carpet of fallen blooms.

And in moments that you find yourself holding the hand of the love of your life, you are suddenly jerked into reality by somebody bumping into you, making you realize that perhaps dreaming of happily-ever-after will take more than just the cherry blossoms showering you with everlasting love, romantic dinners with red wine, or perhaps breakfasts in bed with your inamorata lying beside you on those velvet sheets, wearing nothing but her overnight breath. Ha-ha-ha! 

 You both realize that life is also about making the ridiculously high apartment rental payments, paying in time your car amortization and electric bills, or simply being able to actually afford to send your kids to good schools. 😂

 Yes, walking under the cherry blossoms at the back of the National Assembly compound will momentarily make you forget reality....for a good five kilometers! Ha-ha-ha!

And so, I urge you both to go! The cherry blossom petals will be blown away in about a week after blooming. And this may just be the only time of the year when the cool breezes will allow you to welcome spring without having to fill your lungs with the poisonous metals in the yellow dust from the Gobi Desert. 

I urge you to go if only to have the chance to whisper your love and devotion to your first husband or first wife...or to your current girlfriend or current boyfriend in a romantic setting without having to pay for an entrance fee! 

Just go and forget my sarcastic mumblings about the reality of life. I just needed to write something to accompany these photos. (I just have this irritating habit of trying to always unmask the superficial. Ha-ha-ha!).😁

A few years ago, Philippine actors Angel Locsin and Diether Ocampo were there at Yeouido  Park to shoot their TV drama. I'm not sure which celebrity you're going to bump into this time. 

But I'm sure there will still be millions of petals to shower on you, thousands of other people to jostle with and hundreds of photos to capture your romantic moments under the cherry blossoms of Yeouido!

Enjoy! 


P.S. You can also visit the park at night, and the most convenient way going there is by subway or by bus. Get off at Yeouinaru Station (Line 5), Exits 1 or 2, and the National Assembly Station (Line 9) Exit 1. Parking is a problem and traffic will be horrible.