I got to have a wonderful and much needed father and son day with Kaiser. We took a taxi to the train station at 4:30 am and the train to Seoul at 5:00. We took the KTX/Bullet Train which only takes three hours to arrive. It was an early start, but the train was quiet with only a few other travelers. Kyz slept for half the ride and woke up as we pulled into Yongsan Station to begin our adventure.
Our first stop was the Korean War Memorial Museum so Kyz could see “real” tanks. The museum grounds display dozens of tanks, artillery, APC’s, copters, jets and airplanes. He was in constant awe. I let him wander around while I encouraged his curiosity and took pictures. I visited the museum last July, if you want to see more pictures, click the link to my other post.
After the museum, we took the Metro north to “Toy Street”, where there are lots of toy stores on the same block. We didn’t find many treasures, but came away with a new rescue helicopter and a dump truck for our Hot Wheels collection. It was fun just to go exploring and ride around on the Metro. For the two of us to go there and back didn’t cost more than eight-dollars.
Back at the station we visited another group of toy stores that feature robots, RC vehicles and Legos. We found two more cool Hot Wheels to play with. We visited the arcade next to the robot store and played a few games, too. Then we raided Dunkin’ Donuts while we waited for our return train. We had a fun day but were ready to come home to Momma, who was waiting for us at the bus stop.
(There is a lot to share about this one little trip, too much, so I’ll share just one funny incident: While we were standing in a group of people waiting to cross a busy street, a woman walked over to Kaiser, zipped his jacket up to his chin, placed his hood over his head and loving patted him on the head before walking away. Haha, it was pretty warm out, but Koreans like to be bundled up, especially children. If I was new to Korea, I would think that was strange behavior, if not offensive, but I have been here long enough to see genuine kindness in her gesture.)
How wonderful that was to have such a great father son day. I envy you.
Hi Paul, thanks, it was a special day! I had it planned for months, wish we could have more like these…
Mark L.
Mark, What a fun, fun day for you and Kaiser. Kyz is going to have some amazing memories from his childhood. I remember really enjoying walking around tanks and all the big planes at the Air Force Base my dad worked at.
Hi Naomi, thanks; he was pretty quiet the whole time, that’s unusual! All of the APC’s were open, so we could go in, Kaiser “drove” all of them! Afterwards, we stopped by a Korean military surplus store and I bought him an armored cavalry badge. He wore it with pride, showing it to every we walked by on the sidewalk! Haha, funny kid.
ML
What a great “guy day”. War museum, toy shop, video games, and donuts!!!
Yes, definitely a special day, I remember liking tanks too when I was little, I think most boys do. He still talks about the tanks and the donuts, funny kid!
ML