Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Our Avengers Quest

 Sunday March 30th was the first day of filming in Korea for Avengers 2.  Our apartment had a schedule of all of the locations where they are filming and so after church we decided to take a family bike ride to the Mapo bridge in Seoul to try and see some of the action.  The Mapo bridge is only a few miles from our house and the entire Han River has awesome bike trails on either side.  We didn't know which side of the river to go to so we decided to stay on the North side.
 I took off ahead of Amber and the kids to see if I could catch a glimpse of filming.  On my way there I saw a bunch of familiar faces walking back from the bridge so I got a little nervous that we had missed the whole thing.  About a mile away from the bridge I saw a semi-truck crossing the bridge.  When I finally got there, the bridge was still noticeably closed for traffic but there was not a car, crane, or person to be seen on the bridge.  There was a police boat in the river just under the bridge (found out later that the body of a guy who had committed suicide by jumping off the bridge surfaced during filming and was discovered by the police boat... yuck).
 From the North side of the bridge I could see crowds on the other side of the river.  So I started questioning my choice to stay on the North side.
 Later I found out that had I made it there 20 minutes earlier, I would have caught Captain America's stunt man hanging on the side of a semi-truck trailer.  One of my buddies from work who I saw walking back took a bunch of pictures and I can't believe that we missed it!
 Here you can see the cops blocking the way to the walking path on the bridge.
 Logan arrived next and we decided it was cool even though we couldn't see anything since at least we would know that we were there the same day it was filmed.  Next year when the movie comes out we are going to look back on that day and it will be cool to remember our quest.
 Next Amber, Addy and Sadie arrived.
 What great looking kids!

 Amber is a trooper, 32 weeks pregnant and riding a bike with Sadie strapped in.

 The view from below the bridge is awesome.  It is crazy to think we have lived here 5 years.  That is the longest we have been in one place since we were married in 2002.
 Addy the Hulk (she gets that from me), Sadie Thor, and Iron Man Logan doing some action shots in front of the bridge.
 And one family shot courtesy of a passerby.
 Logan was so funny, he kept asking me why we couldn't see Iron Man and Thor flying around, and why the buildings weren't exploding and falling down and why there was no smoke coming off the bridge...  It must be awesome to be a kid and have such a vivid imagination.
 Amber heard from a friend that the next film shoot would be at the floating islands near the Banpo bridge (about 4 miles east) but the kids were tired so Amber took them home and I cruised to the Hangangdaegyo, crossed the Han River and then booked it to the islands.  The floating islands were constructed right before the 2012 World Cup and then declared unsafe and closed about 6 months later.  Even though the islands are off limit, there is a really cool park there.  When I arrived, I bumped into some more friendly faces and then this dude on a Harley rolled up.  This bike was gigantic and had tons of lights sirens and fishing gear attached.  Maybe he was trying to make an appearance in Avengers 2 as the new Korean Ghost Rider???
 I had to take a few pics to show Logan.

 Here is a pic of the floating islands.  I wonder how they will use them in the movie.  I heard that later that night there were Mark Ruffalo sightings near here but I didn't stay long enough.
Korea... what a cool place!

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