Olympic Park

Back in June I used my day off to visit Olympic Park. (This post has actually been lying in the draft for ages because I was too lazy to edit the pictures… but here it finally is!) I’ve read about the rose garden there and I really wanted to visit. However, since I went in the middle of June, there actually weren’t as many roses as I expected. Rather than just seeing the rose garden, I decided to take a walk around the whole park to make the trip worth something. There’s a sculpture park there, I’m actually not sure if it’s an official park but there were many artworks on display outdoors. There’s also two museums there, I was thinking about visiting the art museum but I decided not to. It was very peaceful there and not many people, mainly elderly taking a stroll. All in all, it was just a nice place to take a walk and get a breath of fresh air. If I lived close by (ie. a walkable distance) I would probably visit a lot, but honestly, it’s not a trip I would make again just to see it. But it would be a nice place to have a picnic or just an outdoor day with friends, families, etc.

Olympic Park is located right outside of Exit 3 of Line 5 Olympic Park Station. There’s an information center there where you can pick up a map or ask the workers for directions.

(Note: If my photos appear a bit too saturated or contrasted it’s because my laptop calibrates photos differently. I’ve tried everything to fix it so people can see the images how I see it, but it gets tiring to check back and forth from different monitors so I’m just posting this because it’s way overdue!)

1600 Pandas+

I found out that the art collaboration between WWF-France and artist Paulo Grangeon was in Korea! You can read the history on the site but it basically started to help spread awareness of wildlife conservation! The exhibition came to Korea and will move around the country. While it’s still in Seoul, I thought I would go have a look. The date I went, it was held at DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) which is pretty close to where I live.

Unfortunately, the day I went it was raining. After being in 80s (fahrenheit) the whole week, it decided to rain on the weekend. It was only raining a bit though, more than sprinkling but less than heavy rain so they still held the exhibit outside. DDP also offers a lot of sights to see such as the design museum and lab. Dongdaemun is also the fashion mecca of Seoul so it is a must to visit the shopping malls there.

Site: https://www.1600pandas.kr/index.html

Haneul Park

Haneul Park is a park located at World Cup Stadium Station in Seoul. It’s a place I always wanted to go but never found the time to until now. There are actually several parks there but I wanted to visit this one. Maybe later I’ll go to the other ones. You can take a shuttle bus to the top of the hill where the park is or just walk up. I decided to walk up using the stairs . The park itself is separated into various areas and theres an ‘observatory deck’ there which is a unique looking sculpture. What really caught my eye though were the various houses on sticks. Those were really fun to photograph and just to look at.

To get to the park, get off at World Cup Stadium Station Exit 1 and walk to the other side of the Stadium and cross the main street. There are signs that show where you are and where the park is!

Address: 95, Haneulgongwon-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul