The Northrup's Day Out, IN SEOUL

So today was our first full day in the capital. My Mom is a crazy history buff, so we decided to go to the War Memorial of Korea.

Epic, isn't it

I was expecting it to be largely focused on the Korean War, which would be interesting to learn more about, since my maternal Grandfather piloted aircraft for surveying missions during the conflict. Surprisingly, this museum/memorial covered ALL the wars Korea had been involved in since its prehistory.

ACK a turtle battleship! RUN AWAY!

Every war in its 3,000 year history was described in detail with colorful paintings, displays, and exhibits.

They even had this model castle you could walk on and I pretended I was Godzilla RAWR

The Memorial, a tranquil and humbling chamber and large fountain, honored those who gave their lives during the wars.

This is the roof cuz I forgot to take a picture of the memorial. Oopsie poopsie whoopsie!!

Since the conflict with North Korea is ongoing, I was expecting this site to contain a ton of propaganda. It had some, here and there, but it wasn’t misleading in any way, or not in a way that I could tell. I was surprised by its genuine desire to acknowledge both the benefits and negative consequences of war. It truly honored ALL the victims of war, not just the victors. But see, this is one of the most striking things I’ve noticed in my short time here: in America, people think that living in or visiting South Korea is dangerous, but I’ve realized how little the political situation affects the everyday lives of average Koreans. Yes, the country is split in two, and yes, the two nations exhibit polar opposites of the political spectrum, but I haven’t experienced a fear-mongering, doomsday-obsessed vibe here, from anyone I’ve met. If anything, South Korea seems to have used their war torn past as motivation to work harder and accomplish more. You have psychopaths ruining the North, subjugating its people and letting them starve, while the South has thrived within the capitalist system. Its industry is booming, its cities are gigantic, yet it’s clean and the people are friendly. It’s almost as if the country is saying, “Hey DPRK, you try to act tough by kidnapping us, threatening us with missiles, and bombing a disputed island? WELL GUESS THE F*&K WHAT, WE’RE BETTER, MORE PROSPEROUS, AND HAPPIER THAN YOU NAHNAH-NAHNAHNAH.” But hey, it works. I get this feeling that North Korea is the butt of a decades’ long communist joke. Har Har, Comrade. South Korea knows it, and I think the North Korean leadership, in its core, knows it too. But we’ll see. Sorry about the tirade, I may or may not be drunk so to make it up to you, here’s another funny picture:

At least they're honest, right?

So after the Memorial, we took a taxi to the center of town- the city hall area.

Apparently the building in front is the old City Hall, and the glass loaf of bread looking thing is the new City Hall

There was an entrance to a palace nearby,

But I was too hungry and sober to go inside

And in the plaza in front of city hall was a “Hot Festival”

Ooo so hot! Also a little kid with an umbrella in between the words. He blew away a few moments later.  Tragedy. 

Where they had a bunch of tents set up all selling dried red peppers. Very spicy. Oh yeah then they had a concert venue, with a nice little stage,…. AND A POP GIRL BAND EEE!!

*tear* I’ve never seen better lip synching..

Then for dinner… UGHHHHH my parents and I caved. We needed a break from Korean food so we decided to check out another type of traditional cuisine:

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE

Where I got a “beer rita”

Hey, Australia is closer to here than it is to America...

And a mushroom cap filled with tomato sauce, shrimp, cheese, and “seafood stuff”

Don't think you'd find THAT in White Plains, NY

And I got a shrimp, chicken, and bacon carbonara

And a few glasses of wine. Beer rita was weak. I'm a man and needed something stronger. 

After that we were pretty exhausted, so we walked back to the hotel. I’ve had about three big beers in my hotel room AND I LOOK FORWARD TO TOMORROW!!!!Really though. I’m really looking forward to it. Ugh I just wish, I just wish it could be tomorrow you know? You know when you look forward to things and it just so happens that those things are really great? I jiccuped excuse me. Where’s tomorrow I need it here now thanks bye.