So much Seoul

Yesterday we set out on our own mini tour in Seoul. Our first stop was Seoul's City Hall, followed by Deoksugung Palace, The Seoul Museum of Art, and lastly The War Memorial of Korea. The palace's admission cost us each under $1 USD, and surprisingly both the SeMA and The War Memorial Museum were free to enter. The War Memorial is a definite must see when visiting Seoul; it's a wonderful educational experience and commemoration of the heroes of the Korean War. We easily spent over two hours there, but could have stayed longer. I'll try and let the pictures do most of the talking.

Seoul's newly built City Hall was designed with the concepts of 'horizon' and 'deep shadow' in mind, re-interpreting the beauty of Korea's old style houses known as Hanok.

This installation, "Whirlwind of Life" symbolizes the constant communication between citizens and the city government. 

The world's largest vertical garden, "Meraseosa Seobeol" is an award winning installation by Korean artist Jeon Sucheon.
It is an allegorical visualization of Seoul throughout the ages. 

The former City Hall building, right in front of the City Hall, has been remade into a metropolitan library.

Deoksugung Palace 

The palace served as the king's residence twice during the Joseon Dynasty.

Changing of the guards 

Seogeodang Hall was used as a council hall with its history dating back to 1567-1608. It was burned down in 1904,
but rebuilt the same year.

Seokjojeon Hall, a Western-style building later used in the 1900s. The first floor was the official workplace and audience chamber and dining room, on the second floor were the private living quarters of the royal family, and kitchen/storage on the ground floor was used by servants. 

Seoul Museum of Art

Creepy statues among the trees

The "Asian Squat"! Up until about middle school, I would squat like this on the floor to do my homework. 

Artist Ron Mueck creates hyper realistic sculptures that are gigantic or undersized, but never on human scale. Loved
this little girl staring at this piece titled, In Bed.

The War Memorial of Korea

The Statue of Brothers. This statue depicts a real-life story of two brothers who fought in the
Korean War on opposite sides and were accidentally reunited on the battlefield. It symbolizes
the Koreans' wish for national peace, reconciliation, and reunification. 

The Korea Peace Bell

The Korean War Veterans Monument commemorates the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the UN and expresses the gratitude of the 21 countries that sent their combat and medical units during the Korean War, in addition to enhancing patriotism and raising interest in national security. 

The USA provided 1,789,000 troops from the 8th Army, Far East Naval Forces, and Far East Air Forces; 92,134 were wounded in action; 36,574 killed in action.

Since the memorial contained so many exhibits, I didn't take too many photos inside.

3D artwork "Drops of Tears". Some 1,300 ID tags worn by allied troops who gave their lives during the
war were used to create this artwork, which honors and reveres their sacrifice.

We ended our day with a stroll around Itaewon, where the cultures of east and west collide. We overheard that it is one of the more expensive neighborhoods to live in, with the cost of housing similar to that of NYC or SF. The streets were filled with more retail shops and American style restaurants. We had Korean BBQ at Maple Tree House, which was a bit overpriced and not as good as the other BBQ we've had. Time to head into the weekend with more food to try and sights to see!