Cherry blossoms, umbrellas, and the biggest church in the world

So it would seem that I will not be Korea's next weather girl. Despite grey cloudy skies, I thought - in the spirit of my earlier spring-time post - that I would venture out with no jacket nor umbrella. Mistake. The latter half of the afternoon decided to spit a few drops down, and, having tested the water (so to speak), decided it was time for a large downpour. It continues.

Nevertheless, wanting to take advantage of the day off work, I met Lauren and we headed to Yeouido - again. This time, there were certainly blossoms blooming with joy. There was also a large host of umbrellas. So that was why there was a queue at the bench in the subway station with a photograph backdrop and fake cherry trees. We did wonder why they didn't just go outside and picture themselves with real blossoms.

Wanting to reach the long-awaited festival, we opted to follow the big crowd of umbrellas. They took us down the main street of trees, but save a few photographers and food sellers, I'm not sure I'd call it much of a festival. Perhaps blossoms and sunshine are necessary to bring the whatever-it-is-I'm-expecting out. They say that there will be fireworks on the last day. But not having official dates for this thing will make it difficult to attend without camping out there for the rest of the month.

Still, the multitudes led us right to Yeouido Full Gospel Church - the largest church in the world. It seemed distinctly closed, but we managed to find a way up via a long corridor and a back door lift. It was big. If I'd not known better, I'd have put it in the 5 biggest. But no, it has the largest congregation in the world. So that's quite a number of churches it's competing with there.