War Memorial and N. Seoul Tower

Sorry for the delay of updates from yesterday! I was so exhausted that I could only upload the pictures to my computer before passing out. It was a really full day and we did so much, so there will be even more pictures in this entry~ I'm gonna add a cut to this entry, so please click the "READ MORE" to read the entire entry!

We first took the subway to the War Memorial, which was a memorial to the Korean War but also a museum of war history in Korea. After the short walk from the station, you arrive at this HUGE building surrounded by greenery. There is a large statue immediately in front of you as soon as you get there. It’s really cool to look at.

This statue is about the brotherhood between soldiers, one being an American soldier and the other being a Korean soldier. It’s pretty cool because it’s absolutely huge. Then, just across the way, there’s another big statue. It’s got just as big replications of soldiers. Whoever created them was amazing!

After checking out the grounds a little, we decided to grab some lunch since we hadn’t eaten yet that day. I noticed they had tonkatsu, so I jumped on that. It’s a pork cutlet in a super delicious sauce, and it’s one of my favorite foods! Mom and I shared the dish because it was so big~

While walking through the halls outside with all the names on it of those who died from each country, there was this sign that I thought was really nice. Some of the huge walls had flowers or bouquets on them left by loved ones who had recently visited the memorial. It was amazing to see all the names on the walls (for the US, each state had their own subgroup, so soldiers were listed by where they came from).

After walking through those halls, we made our way to the front of the building, which is beautiful.  There were a ton of parents taking their kids that day, and some expats who were visiting too. We gave a donation and entered into the main part of the museum after getting a drink from a vending machine.

The first thing you walk into is a circular-like room that has bronze busts of important people in the war. If you looked up, you saw this cool mural and skylight, which I just had to get a picture of.

Then immediately after that room is one of the coolest parts of the entire place (that I saw). It’s the Memorial Hall, and it has the coolest lighting and effects. At the end of the hall, there’s a small room with candles along the walls and a book in the center with all the names of those who died. You can light one of the candles in memory of your loved one. It was really cool.

Then from that room is a really cool room with a water feature. I’m not exactly sure what it was for, but it was beautiful, and incredibly peaceful. 

After leaving the room, you move down this winding hallway that has some really cool artistic-type pieces on the wall.

Then we moved on to the historical part of Korea throughout their history of war. The stuff they had on display was really cool. I’ll post those photos below.

Then we moved outside to the war machinery section outside. My brother definitely would have been in paradise, as most of these things you could get right near and even climb in or around. There were tons of planes and tanks!

After the war memorial, we took a subway to reach N. Seoul Tower. We had to take a huge hill up to the cable car platform to go up to the tower. It was an amazing walk and we were sweaty as ever by the time we got there. There were some really cute cafes and coffee shops along the street, as well as awesome smelling restaurants.

The ride up in the cable car was really cool and we got a birds’ eye view of everything underneath us and of the city as we rose above it. They packed the car full of people, but we still managed to get by the windows so we could see out.

Finally we reached the bottom of the tower and we realized just how high we were going up. On the observatory deck, you can see all the padlocks that couples have put on the fences. The tradition is that if a couple comes to the tower together, they write their names on the locks and then attach them to the fence, making them locked to each other. It’s a pretty cute and romantic idea.

We then went up to the observation deck at the top of the tower and it’s absolutely INCREDIBLE. You can see everything. The city seems to go on forever and the mountains in the background are beautiful. The river looks huge, and it really shows just how connected the cities are.

When coming back down, we took a break to enjoy the nature around us and sat near the plaza, which was beautiful. There were a lot of people hanging out around the bottom and it was great to just sit down and relax after moving so much the entire day. 

After relaxing, we made our way back down to the subway and returned home. It was already six by that time, and we were exhausted. Korea has been an amazing experience so far and it’s only been three days. I’m definitely getting more and more eager for my four month stay.