Seoul Forest

Last weekend Russell and I ventured to Seoul Forest, for a relaxing walk around the grounds.  I would call this a park rather than a forest, and one of the nicest parks I've seen anywhere!!!  The weather was perfect, the shade was abundant, and many Seoulites were out enjoying Spring. There were people just strolling, bikes for hire, and a lot of groups kicking soccer balls or throwing frisbees.  Here are a few photos from our day:

As with everywhere in Korea, there were plenty of sculptures, some of them very interesting!!!

The bushes behind the azaleas are 'snowball bushes' - just like my Mum had!

Kids can climb in this one!

This sculpture has the word for "love" carved in it, in 95 different languages!!!

Russ trying to work out where he is....... 

One of the entrances - the pansies are particularly nice this year!

While we were wandering, we bought coffee (of course) at a lovely coffee shop.  The posters on the walls were very interesting, and gave us a chuckle.  Here's two of them:

In case you can't read this one, it says: "Caffeine isn't a drug, It's a vitamin"..... hehe

We made it to Spring..... again

After an interminable Winter, Spring has once again arrived in South Korea, and it is SO worth the wait!!!  This is my favourite time of year, by a long way, partly because we are tired of the cold, but also because this place is so pretty at this time of year.  It isn't hot and humid yet, so that's a bonus.

Here are some of the pretty places around where we live:

This path runs just below our apartment building, along the creek.

Our creek.

Koreans love statues, and this is a particularly cute one - note the doves on top of the tree.

That's me giving a 'cute' Korean look for the photo!

Along the creek near our home.

The gardens and playground in our apartment complex.

That's our building in the background.

Right near our bus stop.

Grandpa Reinke

We said farewell to Russell's Dad last month - a wonderful, kind, gentle person, who was always thankful for his life, his family and friends and the experiences he had.  He passed away at the age of 91 on April 12.  The whole of his family, as well as many friends, gathered to say goodbye and celebrate his life. We are grateful that we have known and been influenced by such an amazing man.

It was very special for us to have our family with us - Russell, Alice and I flew back to Australia, and Hayden, Mitch and Peta-Erin come up to Maleny (just north of Brisbane) to join us for a few days.  We really love these guys and it has been a long time since we have all been together, so that made it all the more special.