My Dad is in Korea: Post 3

We had a really fantastic day yesterday!  Since it was Sunday we decided to go to mass at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.  The priest is Irish and had mass in a record breaking (by my standards) 35 minutes! There was also a Starbucks nearby so the three of us and my friend Laura got to hang out for a bit and enjoy some drinks in downtown Seoul.

 This is the grotto (I think that's what you would call it?) behind the church.  As you can see, it was a rainy morning.

 Next up was the War Memorial and Museum.  Here's a famous monument outside the Museum; these two brothers--one from the North and one from the South--symbolize the current division of Korea and also the hope of unification.

 They also had an outdoor exhibit of airplanes used in various wars by Korea.  It was really neat, and my dad knew about all the planes and told us about them as we went through.  And even though it was rainy, it was kind of a blessing because we had the whole place to ourselves.

 My dad in front of a F4 Phantom that was used in Vietnam.

 The Museum was really excellent!  We didn't take a ton of pictures inside, but here was one we took of an exhibit showing the refugee conditions of Korea due to the Korean War.

 Outside they also had a war memorial with names of people that died during the Korean war.  These were the names of Missourians that died in the war.

 Next up we had lunch--Turkish Kebabs!!!  They consisted of flatbread, chicken or lamb, lettuce, onions, and good spices/sauce.  It was tasty!

 Then we headed over to Seodaemun Prison, which was an old prison during the Japanese occupation of Korea.  Japan colonized Korea from 1910-1945.   It was a brutal occupation in many ways, which is why there can still be hard feelings between the Japanese and Koreans at times.  Some Koreans tried to resist Japanese occupations and fight for independence and if they got caught by the Japanese government they were brought to this prison.  Here's a model of the camp:

 Pictures of the Korean captives during the Japanese Occupation.

 Zoomed in:

 The next two pictures are of the jail cells.  They actually showed torture rooms and an execution house on the tour.  It was pretty graphic and sad to see what these people went through.

 Near the Prison was a park with Independence Gate.  This "gate" (looks like an archway) was built in 1898 to show Korean Independence and nationalism.  (Ironically it's modeled after the French Arc de Triumph).

 After a busy day in Seoul we headed back to Suwon and took my dad to one of our favorite Korean restaurants to eat dak galbi.

 Dak galbi is a mixture of chicken, rice noodles, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and red spice all cooked right in front of us.  It's so good!

 I'm also proud to say my dad learned to use chopsticks successfully!!! The waitress even brought him out a fork but he chose to perserve through using the chopsticks.  I was impressed!

 We then went on a stroll through our neighborhood, Yongtong, so my dad could see what it was like at night.

 And our last stop of the day was at Queen's Head, which is a local brewery.

 To top off the entire day, as we were walking back to the car I spotted a Hello Kitty store!!! Hello Kitty is an Asian sensation.  How cool is that??!!

We all agreed that it was a great day.  Next up: the Korean Folk Village.