A Day at Seoul Grand Park

Today, we left at 8:30 to make our way to Seoul Grand Park, a zoo and botantical garden, located in southern Seoul. About 45 minutes and 2 subway transfers later, we successfully emerged from the subway to find ourselves right at Seoul Grand Park! First you purchase tickets to take a tram to the zoo. (The tram also stops at Seoul Land, a Disney-esque park that also offers multiple themed areas, such as World Plaza (Epcot), Fantasy Land (Magic Kingdom), Adventure Land, Samchulli Land and Tomorrow Land). On the tram, we sat with a couple of young ladies. They asked if Lucy wanted to share their blanket with them. It was about 60 degrees.

Koreans tend to dress 2-3 more layers that we do. I have yet to see anyone in a sleeveless top or tank top. In most cases men wear suits and women wear long sleeves, sweaters or jackets of some sort! We actually saw a baby in a sweater and a knit hat at the zoo - it was about 70 degrees at that time!!

Once at Seoul Grand Park, we purchased tickets to the zoo and dolphin show. Altogether, the cost was extremely reasonable!! SGP consists of miles of various areas of animals with picturesque mountains as a backdrop! The kids loved seeing familair animals - and especially the not-so-familiar animals...

The dophin (5)/seal (2) show was fabulous. The Sparky show pales in comparison (but, at least it's free!). Only thing, was that the "show" part included actors who, of course, spoke all in Korean. But, the kids didn't seem to mind and loved seeing all the tricks and stunts! One of their favorite animal pavillions... The Insectarium!! A building with all sorts of BUGS!!! Not quite my thing, but I LOVED seeing the kids' excitement.

Another hit - the playground! That is one thing the kids have been lacking, the opportunity to play outside. There are really no parks nearby. So, this was a real treat for them.

One cultural observation: throughout the park they note picnic areas. Instead of picnic tables, they have little deck pavillions. People take their shoes off and sit on the floor of the pavillion and eat their food - or rest. This is yet another reason why bare feet is not typically seen in Korea. (We try to make sure if we go out that we all are wearing socks, so as not to offend anyone)

We arrived home about 4:30, exhausted but very happy (even Matthew!)!