A short walk from the Dragon Hill Lodge in Seoul stands the imposing War Memorial of Korea. The attraction provided us with an afternoon that was both solemn and ridiculous. First, the solemn part.

Outside the building, we roamed through an exhibit of planes, tanks and other war vehicles from Korea and abroad.

The building itself was immense with powerful imagery and excellent exhibits on Korea’s warfare history, including models, artifacts, photos and film clips. I could have spent the whole day there. Here’s a nice wrap-up from CNN:

With a 5,000-year history, Korea has certainly seen its share of wars and that’s precisely why the War Memorial of Korea has an extensive array of stories and artifacts.
The museum, which is located on the old site of army headquarters, has two main exhibitions.
The indoor exhibition includes six halls. The first is a Memorial Hall, which pays tribute to all those who have fought in Korean wars and lost their lives.
The next room is the War Room, featuring Korean weapons from as early as the Paleolithic age, armor and helmets used throughout different periods, as well as swords and other Korean weaponry used over the centuries.
Also indoors is a whole exhibit dedicated to just the Korean War of the 1950’s. Beginning with North Korea’s surprise invasion on the South on June 25, 1950, this hall depicts all aspects of the war, such as the role of the United Nations played and what wartime life was like for Koreans.
Here you get to experience eerily life-like Combat Experience Room, a re-creation of a Korean night battle full of special effects, video, sound, canon smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Just the re-enaction of these battles induces a sense of horror, leaving you with a sense of what actual combat experience must have been like.
Other rooms include the Expeditionary Forces room, a testimony to Korea’s overseas dispatches throughout the world, and the ROK Armed Forces room, which shows the history and changes of South Korea’s army through weapons uniforms and tactics throughout the years.
In the Defense Industry room you can get an in-depth view of the equipment that currently protects South Korea, from gas masks to aircraft. But if you really want to see some amazing machinery up close and personal, then head to the Outdoor Exhibition.
The Outdoor Exhibition features restored tanks, vehicles, submarines, aircraft and artillery that were used in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. But more than just standing right next to these mega machines, you can actually get inside them.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the war exhibits because it was quite dark. However, Megan had spotted an exhibit for kids that was clearly designed for photo opps. Here’s where things took a turn for the ridiculous. Tony opted out.

We had to buy separate tickets, and nothing was labeled in English, so we weren’t sure what we would see. But there were animals on the poster, and Will likes animals!

It was like Hello Kitty, Willy Wonka and Doctor Doolittle got together and planned an exhibition. There may have been some attempt at educating kids about the animals through Korean signage, but nobody seemed to stop long enough to read anything. Everyone rushed to place their child in the tableaux for a nonstop photo shoot. There’s going to be a whole generation of Koreans who think ostriches teach school, African animals participate in organized sports, bears hold dinner parties, kangaroos really wear boxing gloves, tigers play the bongos and polar bears do a poor job of keeping house.

Here’s what I read later on the Korea Be Inspired website:
The International Animal Exploration Exhibition, a collection of taxidermy animals, is set to run from December 1, 2012 through March 3, 2013 at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul.
The collection, which comes from the Masai Gallery in Belgium, showcases stuffed figures of endangered animals around the world including lions and giraffes of Africa, kangaroos of Oceania, tigers and leopards of Asia, and coyotes and water buffalos of America. All figures were made using already dead animals after the taxidermy had been approved by the Belgian government. The collection is held to raise awareness of the dangers and threats faced by wild animals.

Whew! What a relief that the figures were made with “already dead animals”! Well, I’m not sure if this exhibit will actually raise awareness of anything, but it was definitely a highlight of our trip to Korea!

These pictures don’t do justice to the spectacle of this experience. Here’s a link to my flickr album if you want more.

Everyone knows black bears enjoy sharing bananas, pineapples and pancakes when they host parties.

Will and Megan race with the animals!

All the animals listen carefully to their teacher at school, while Will and Mommy read a book.

Making music.

Poking around with the beavers.

Sure, why not pitch your tent right there?

Don’t you hate it when warthogs and polar bears trash your kitchen?

Just like Gee’s basement.

Arts and crafts and other chaos.

Finally, a dose of reality.