Our Trip to Seoul

After the Army ball, we took the kids exploring Seoul the next day. We ventured out on the Seoul subway system. This was the first time the kids had ever ridden on a subway. We were quite a spectacle. I suppose we're used to that, but it was especially funny herding seven kids on and off extremely crowded subways and navigating through all the tunnels to change from the blue line to the red line.

(If you notice in the pictures, we have another child named Flat Stanley. We were taking pictures of Stanley for my nephew, Cameron's class project. I really liked Stanley, he was much better behaved than my other children.)

First we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace in downtown Seoul. It is a very important historical sight for Koreans. It was the Korean ruler's home for centuries until the empress was assassinated by the Japanese in, I believe, the late 1800s. The grounds and the buildings were very similar to all the Buddahist temples. I think I read that the architecture comes from about 800 AD during the Unified Silla dynasty. when Buddahism was accepted and enveloped into Korean culture. I could be totally wrong on that. I try to read as much as I can in the museums, but it has very little information in English and the kids are never interested in sticking around to learn anything.

The following pictures show a re-enactment of the changing of the guard at the palace. It was really cool to see the ancient instruments they played and listen to them bang the giant drum. It was well worth standing outside freezing our cans off to watch.

The next day we walked off of Yongsan military base, right down the street to the Korean War Museum. The children had a fantastic time climbing on all of the old fighter jets, bombers, tanks, Howitzers, and a giant naval boat.

The inside of the museum was extremely interesting--well, for me and Brian and the older children. We learned so much about Korean history and especially a lot about the Korean war in 1950s. It is a huge part of our American history, but I think for the most part, most Americans really don't know that much about it.

This is the torpedo that sank the South Korean naval ship this past April, killing over 40 sailors. The North Koreans deny it was them, but come on, who else has a vendetta against South Korea? New Zealand? The North Korean communists are crazy. I'm learning that more and more every day. In fact, South Korea is getting a little worried I think. Yesterday, they had a nationwide bomb drill where everyone had to get out of their cars, find a shelter and get gas masks on. Brian said that we are supposed to have our own set of gas masks and safety gear in case of an attack, but he forgot to go check it out for us. I hope it's not something we really need, but. . . like I said, North Koreans are crazy.

This war monument is very cool. It is a bullet slit right down the middle representing a nation that is split down the middle by war. The South Koreans are divided on whether they would like to see Korea unified. North Korea is living in conditions that are about 50-80 years behind the rest of the modern world. To unify would cost South Korea (and probably the US) billions of dollars to rebuild the infrastructure and to feed and educate North Koreans. It will be very interesting to see what happens here.