"After all the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see other fellows busy working."
- Wind in the Willows
Last week I had my summer holiday. Since I am going to be traveling for 6 weeks starting in September(cue internal scream of excitement mixed with terror) I decided to have a staycation for the week. I spent most of the weak doing absolutely nothing except watching Netflix. By Wednesday I was bored out of my mind, so I booked a day tour for Friday. My friend Jodi showed me a website that is basically Korea's version of Groupon, it is my new best friend. I decided to visit Nami Island, Petite France, and the Garden of Morning Calm.
The morning dawned dreary with rain, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Our first stop of the day was Nami Island. A former governor of the Bank of Korea wanted to retire in nature so in 1965 he bought the small island. In 2006, the island declared independence from Korea and named it the Naminara Republic. In order to get to the island you must pass through "immigration." They even ask you what citizenship you hold as they check your ticket. The island has gained popularity since a couple of Korean dramas were filmed on the island.
After a 5 minute ferry ride, I arrived on the island. Because of the rain there were only a few brave souls who decided to come out. The rain cleared up after a while and as we were leaving the line for the ferry was into the parking lot. The island was cute but very strange. To start with they had a pen of ostriches. I can say that before this day I had never seen a wet ostrich before. They get even scarier when wet.
Apparently archaeological remains were found on the island. There were these huts to show what they found. Because of the puddle I couldn't get closer but if you look closely you can just glimpse the very creepy mannequins inside.
I also found out that snowmen are the official symbol of Nami Island.
The clouds rolling over the mountains were just gorgeous.
I found corn! It made me happy.
The island is supposed to be a library in the woods. There are books everywhere, including in each bathroom stall. Also the sign in front of the bathroom says, "Tradition has it that one makes a wish when one sees the tail of a meteor. Imagine that your wish has been made. Here's hoping that it will come true."
The bump of grass is the tomb of General Nami. He was killed after being falsely accused of Treason.
This is a bad picture, but it would have been creepy if I had gotten closer. This group of 10 little girls were all wearing matching straw hats with black bows and pink backpacks. It was very Madeline-esque. Its too bad they were not in two straight lines.
After Nami Island, we were next on to Petite France. I found Nami Island charming, Petite France was just weird. It is supposed to be a village modeled after the illustrations from the book, "The Little Prince."
Both Nami Island and Petite France seemed to have a thing for weird bug sculptures.
The village had a "traditional European house" that you could tour, because every house in Europe has a plate wall!
And there was a creepy doll museum.
There was also a marionette performance. I assumed it would be the telling of a fairy tale. I was wrong. The guy could not have been more thrilled with his job.
The last stop of our day was the Garden of Morning Calm. The garden was built by a Korean professor in 1996 after living in the US.
The national flower of Korea is the Hibiscus and the garden was full of them.
Apparently the beginning of August is the time of lilies. These white ones were huge! My hand is for size comparison.
What garden is complete without a cute white country church?
Someone put this lost hat on the bush, it made me giggle.
And if a garden needs a country church it also needs an English cottage.
Before moving to Korea, I did not know that Korea has a monsoon season. Every couple of days a text is sent to every phone in the country by the government about either landslides or extreme heat.
The greenhouse housed a mini waterfall and miniatures of traditional houses.
The garden housed an art gallery, full of cat art.
I'm very glad that I went, these three places were on my list of places to go. Taking the tour was a great idea since I was able to hit three places in one day. Now I just need to survive the next three weeks and I am free for 6 weeks of wandering.
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