June 10, 2019

Last day.  This day started very early in the morning for me as I could not sleep.  In part because I had gone to bed so early the day before (8:00PM) that by 2:00ish Am I had slept six hours. In part because I was already feeling extremely sad leaving Jung Il-woo.  I looked out the window and it was raining… I called out to him… I said many words to him of love, of good wishes and prayer… May god protect you Il-woo Ssi!  My tears melted with the raindrops falling as Seoul and I cried together. When will I see you again?

I decided to finish writing the post about his Fan Meeting.  This would help me calm down… so I did… soon I got to Part 3: the part with the guest actors he had during the Fan Meeting.  I had just written the title when I noticed the screen of my phone light up. jiwww had just posted. What?  But it’s 2:40 AM!  He can’t sleep either? And then… when I saw the photo he posted I stared in disbelieve… it was a photo of him with the guest actors!!!  My eyes had tears again…  he and I were connected in that moment of time and space…

I commented on his photo, and then I continued to write the post. I finished it by dawn.  I posted in Instagram and published the Day 6th post on my website, then I got up to pack and get ready.  I had breakfast and at last I was ready for my last adventure of this trip at 9:30AM.

It was hard to choose what to do… I only had about 3 hours and then I needed to head back to the hotel to collect my things and head to the Incheon airport.  I had two areas in mind… one was the Ihwa Mural Village and another the Gangnam Area, including the gallery Jung Il-woo promoted in his magazine. I decided to go with the first one as it felt closer and easier to get to.  And I was more interested in it too.

So these were the places I saw:

Arko Theater (Second time)

Ihwa Mural Village

Seoul City wall

Dongdaemun Gate

I was in utter disbelieve when I got off the station!  It was basically next to the Arko Theater again!  Yes! the theater I had posted about on Day 1 where Jung Il-woo had performed ‘Beautiful Sunday’!!!  On Day 1, I chose to walk from the Jongno 5 ga station, to avoid having to change lines in the subway.  Talk about a way to get closure… I was back in Day 1!  I walked by the theater which I discovered is part of a cultural center that includes a park next to it.  Following my GPS I headed towards ‘Naksan park’ as it was next to the mural area.  I enjoyed this walk a lot… it started to be seriously up hill after a while.  Then more and more picturesque places seem to appear as I arrived to the area.

This mural was the first one I spotted… all the figures were made of wire:

This is the entrance to Naksan Park:

This was a really cool store named ’70 st. Alice.” It was inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  I was in WOOnderland alright:

After visiting, the Bushwick Collective area in New York, where Jung Il-woo had his photo shoot,  (See more about his HERE.) this mural area was not that great.  In fact some of the staircases that were supposed to have murals and mosaics had been painted gray on top! I read THIS article that talked about how the residents were so fed up of the noise caused by tourists that they vandalized the two staircases with murals about three years ago.  Though I was there Monday morning, there were very few tourists and the place had this abandoned kind of energy. One bonus this place had over the industrial flat area in New York is that this place because it is so high, it has amazing views.

I did not expect to find the old Seoul City Wall (Hanyangdoseong) there!  And not only did I find it… I walked along it all the way down to the Dongdaemun Gate!  Even though it was an overcast day, the views were so beautiful!   Watching Seoul from high above once more, I said my final goodbyes and expressed my thankfulness for this amazing trip.

 

This is Dongdaemun Gate, or the “Heunginjimun,”  or the Gate of Rising Benevolence:

After this came a very hectic time as I had to go back to my hotel, and make my way to Incheon.  Time flew by and as I waited for the plane to take off I felt myself falling asleep peacefully… I felt so content… suddenly I was woken by the rush of the plane taking off.  I took a quick video…

and once I was up in the clouds, and I imagined him… with that sweet smile!

See you soon Il-woo Ssi… thank you for every moment of delight!  Thank you life for the many dreams that came true in this amazing trip that I will never…ever forget…!

A special thanks to all of you dear Il-woo fan sisters who came along virtually on this trip with me.

May your Il-woo dreams come true for you!