Spring Time

A little while ago I did some spring time shots of the local park, about a 5 minute walk away and around Suwon Fortress, around a 10 minute bus ride away.  Also, good news, I figured out the photo problem.  My camera automatically flips the pictures, but my computer doesn't recognize, but Blogger does.  So, when I flip the picture on my computer, it is actually an extra flip on Blogger.  I'm not a computer genius, but I have no idea how that works.  Anyway, here are some Spring Time photos.  Enjoy.

(The Cherry Blossoms are out...)

 (... in full bloom)

(The bad thing is they only lasted about a week.  So, these amazing views were over before I knew it.)

 (Pow - close up shot)

 (Protectors of the park.  Not sure what they are made of, they almost seem organic...)

(Perhaps if I knew Korean, I could read the sign and know if these are specific people)

 (Suwon Fortress.  Katrina and I walked around an area we had never been - kind of nice...)

(My favorite shot of the day.  It was actually difficult to find the cherry blossoms at the fortress.)

(From what I just read, the largest gate in South Korea...)

Seoul Olympic Park

Another quick update...  as I'm sure many of you know, the Olympics were held in Seoul a while back.  Now, in honor of that, there is a Seoul Olympic Park.  We went to rent bicycles but forgot it was Children's Day, yes, that is a holiday in South Korea.  Anyway, it was so busy we just had to walk around.  Hopefully one of these days we'll be able to go and rent bicycles.  Here are a few photos from our adventure.

 (A fun picture with the camera, let in a little too much light...)

 (Not sure if you can see the people but this entrance is ginormous)

(The main reason for this picture was the girls wearing Hanboks with backpacks.  Also, you can see one of the kinds of 'bikes' you can rent.)

(Katrina being excited)

(A nice little shot of a part of the park.  Here we were able to see a little fountain show...)

(Hanging on the bench)

(Katrina deep in thought)

 (Only a small fraction of the madness that was Children's Day)

 (Sweetest art project for kids ever)

(I think the kids just dipped their hands in pant and then went to town on giant balls.  It looked like a lot of fun...)

(A classy glassy cathedral which was actually interesting)

Bugaksan

On my final day of vacation, after spending 4 at the beach, I headed to Bagaksan.  It was a nice little hike with a few fantastic views.  The only problem, well, I guess for me there were two:  poor weather and the fact that in the sweetest parts to take pictures there was always an annoying little 'NO PHOTO' sign.  Otherwise, it was a great little hike, about 2 hours.  (For more info and a little more background check out:  NY Times Article on Bugaksan).  On a side note, there was an assassination attempt on the Korean president from this mountain and it is very close to the 'Blue House' the Korean equivalent of the White House.  I think the no picture thing is more hype than any other possible rational explanation, such as military security, same as the DMZ trip.  Oh, this is such a secretive military sensitive area that you are allowed to hike here, but you can take pictures. 

(Form that needs to be completed before entering - remember your passport or ARC)

 (One of the main entrances)

 (One of the few places I was allowed to take a photo - great downtown shot of Seoul, minus the fog)

 (More of downtown Seoul)

(Another entrance)

(*On a side note, quite a few of the pictures could again not be uploaded since Blogger is junk now)