Our Traveling Nest: Our Life and a Wonderful Weekend Continued...

Monday morning we hit the deck running! Of course starting the day off with a trip to the gym, home to cleaned up, and head to Seoul for the remainder of the long weekend. We arrived in Yongsan, checked into our hotel, grabbed some lunch and of course hit up Starbucks! Then it was time for some sightseeing! Robert has wanted to go into the heart of downtown Seoul so I planned for us to go visit the Gyeongbokgung Palace and then head back to Itaewon for dinner.

"Built in 1395, Gyeongbokgung Palace is also commonly referred to as the “Northern Palace” because it is located more toward the north, compared to the neighboring palaces of Changdeokgung (Eastern Palace) and Gyeongheegung (Western Palace). Gyeongbokgung Palace is arguably the most beautiful and remains the grandest of all the five palaces.

The premises were destroyed by fire at the time of the Japan's occupation of Korea during 1592-1598. However, all of the palace's 7,700 rooms were later restored under the leadership of Heungseondaewongun in the years of King Gojong (1852~1919) .

Remarkably, the most representative edifices of the Joseon Dynasty, Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion and Hyangwonjeong Pond are still relatively in tact. Woldae and the sculptures of Geunjeongjeon (The Royal Audience Chamber) represent the past sculpture art which was the trend back then."

- Taken from the Official Site of Korea Tourism Organization

The palace was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the sky was bright blue with puffy white clouds. I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures and Robert got a little antsy standing in one place for too long. It took us a good two and a half hours to get through it all. We then headed out into Seoul for a little more sightseeing and walking around the city for about another hour and then we headed back to Itaewon for dinner at and Indian food restaurant that we wanted to try, that ended up being delicious! We had a quaint little Indian food joint that we enjoyed going to here in town but it recently went out of business. With both of us totally stuffed and very satisfied with our new find, we proceeded to walk around Itaewon to help aid in digestion and then headed back to our hotel to get some rest.

On Tuesday, Robert’s unit had planned a trip for us all to visit The War Memorial of Korea Museum located in Yongsan. It was a great learning experience to see the wide variety and development of equipment utilized during times of war.

“The grounds of the War Memorial of Korea were once the headquarters of the Korean Infantry. Many experts from different fields were consulted numerous times and exhaustive research was done in order to complete the exhibits. This memorial is the largest of its kind in the world.

There are 8 main exhibits at the War Memorial: the Hogukchumo Exhibit, War History Exhibit, June 25th War Exhibit, Overseas Dispatched Troops Exhibits, Military Development Exhibit, Large Equipment Exhibit, and the Outdoor Exhibit. The Hogukchumo Exhibit honors the spirit of those who perished fighting on the battlefield. Visitors can learn all about Korea’s war history by visiting the War History Exhibit, June 25 War Exhibit, Overseas Dispatched Troops Exhibits, and the Military Development Exhibit, as well as witness how the Korean military developed over the years. Different kinds of weapons and military equipment are exhibited as well, inside and outside the building.

Exhibits inside the building display equipment used during the Korean War in such a way as to invite comparison between the items. Large weapontry and equipment used by different countries during World War II and the Vietnam War are also on display. In the Large Equipment Exhibit on the second floor, many kinds of defense industry equipment and both real and model weapons are displayed. In the Bangsan Equipment Exhibit, you can look at weapons and war equipment produced in Korea. In the War Memorial’s Storage Room, 17,800 files and artifacts of war are preserved. Modern damage control and prevention devices have been installed to keep these materials safe from harm.”

- Taken from the Official Site of the Korean Tourism Organization

We spent almost four hours going through the museum. Afterwards we made a trip to the commissary there, which is so much bigger than ours is and headed home. We could not have asked for a better weekend in Seoul or even better weather. This weekend we are heading back for some Oktoberfest Festivities so more pictures to come.

We are still hashing out the details of our trip home but we are getting very excited! I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day and weekend and we look forward to see everyone soon! Have a great week!