Day 4 in Seoul, Lyana and I took the rare opportunity to visit the LDS temple. We found a terrific lady, recommended by friends, to watch the kids so we could go. We had a wonderful time interacting with the Korean saints, and the temple inside and out was absolutely beautiful.
After visiting the temple, Lyana decided to put Mark down for nap while me and the older kids were to go out adventuring.
The National Museum of Korea is just outside one of the many gates of Yangsan Army base, though we still had to take a taxi to get there. According the wikipedia, the ultimate source on anything you are too lazy to look up anywhere else, the National Museum of Korea “the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea.” That means it’s really important. So we figured it was worth a trip.
The museum is free for all permanent exhibitions, including the children’s exhibition. The kids had a good time, though it only took 30 minutes to go through the children’s section. 
Thankfully there is a little playground just outside the children’s exhibition room, and the kids entertained themselves there quite well.
Soon I decided it was time to visit the actual museum, you know, where they keep all the really old stuff. According to my favorite source of information (where were you wikipedia when I needed you in high school?), the National Museum of Korea is “the sixth largest museum in the world in terms of floor space, now covering a total of 137,201 square metres (1,480,000 sq ft).” After about 50 of those feet, we’d had enough (we meaning my two children whose attention span for glass cases full of old rocks and broken pots lasted about as long as a bag of peanut M&Ms in my office.)
Outside the museum, in the fresh breathable air (as opposed to the stuffy, toxic air inside the museum) we found ourselves in much happier spirits.
Ooooh! Who is that handsome looking, very macho man? My captured heart just skipped a beat. I think I like him. (Oh, Lyana, you flatter me with such sweet words)
I said “pose for the camera.” They heard, “be ridiculous.”
Scenery shot:
I like this picture for two reasons. 1) they look so sweet and loving toward each other. 2) it is a RARE moment captured on film.
I told them that there was a park on the other side of the museum grounds, which is probably why they didn’t complain about their tired feet the whole time – at least until it was time to leave, then immediately it was, “can you carry me on your shoulders?”
On our way out of the park. One thing about Seoul: they parks are very nice (I couldn’t think of a larger word to use because I’m very sleepy and I have reached a state of deglutition inconsistent with dietetic integrity after the smorgasbord of hamburgers and grilled chicken, followed by mixed berry cobbler with peach ice cream at dinner tonight).
After the long trek back to the army base, we met up with Lyana and Mark, then took a taxi ride to ‘B’ park (I can’t remember the name of the park that we were trying to go to, but it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s unpronounceable AND the taxi driver couldn’t even find it. We had to give him directions, and 20,000 won ($20) later, we finally just told him to drop us off “right here” so we wouldn’t go broke. Did you know that taxis in Korea charge by the distance AND the time. I noticed this when we were stuck at a red light and the meter continued to tick away. I remember thinking after some especially long waits, '”wow, that red light was expensive.”
The ‘B’ park we were looking for turned out to be only a windy (as in blowing your hair in your face [no joke please] windy, not the corkscrew) scenic riverside trail from the ‘G’ park the taxi dropped us off at.
In case you didn’t get enough exercise walking all over the city, there are stationary bikes and even stepper machines (you know what I mean) at the playgrounds. Some of them had cables attached to them so that you could plug in your mp3 player or cell phone and recharge it using the electricity generated from the exercise equipment. Koreans think of everything . . .
such as giant caterpillar statues on top of the restrooms.
I’m still trying to think of a cute caption for this photo. (Remember, I’m about to fall asleep because I ate too much?)
Han River. Seoul.
Another park. Alex was very proud of himself for scaling this wall.
After the riverside parks (‘B’ and ‘G’), it was time to head back for dinner. But then, as we were searching for a taxi, what do we find? Another park! Brave ‘little’ Alex wasted no time in joining a game of soccer already in progress. Afterwards, the kids told me (yes, they spoke a bit of English) they were 9 and 10 years old. Alex is 5.
So where did we go for dinner? Taco! That’s the name of the place: Taco. And it was a Mexican joint. And it was overpriced. But we didn’t care; we were in Korea, where Mexican food is perfected to an art. No, not really, but when chicken quesadillas cost 8 dollars and all you get is a chicken quesadilla, you start rationalizing to make yourself feel better (and when I say you, I mean me). It really was delicious though, as evident by these happy faces:
So, that’s it. All of day #4. Unintentionally this day became “park day” because everywhere we looked, there was another playground. By the end of the day, though, we were done. No more. I want to go home. Well, that’s what the kids said because they didn’t know what day 5 would bring.
Rob
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