Hwaseong Fortress

Today was probably my favorite day in Korea so far.  We've done lots of cool stuff, but today was just all around perfect.  Today, we FINALLY  walked along the entire wall of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon.  The first time we went to Hwaseong was lsat summer.  It was too hot to go for a 4 hour walk around the city, so we put it off for another day.  MONTHS later, we finally went! I am so excited to show you all of our pictures, that I cannot type this fast enough.  Today seriously rocked.
The weather was AMAZING.  It was sunny, clear skies, and upper 40s.  We walked around for hours without coats, gloves, hats, anything winter related!  The sunshine and zero humidity had me in such a great mood.  Judging by the hundreds of other people walking around Hwaseong today, I think the weather put everyone in a great mood today.
So anyway.  Suwon.  Hwaseong.  Suwon is our favorite place.  Maybe it's because we got so familiar with it while I was going back and forth to the hospital after stabbing myself, I don't know.  Whenever we can't think of anything to do... Suwon.  So, we headed to Suwon this morning and planned to walk all the way around Hwaseong Fortress.

I have been getting VERY frustrated in the big crowds of people lately, so rather than walking along the main road to get to the fortress, I led Drew down some side streets.  I "knew" exactly where I was going haha.  I have a pretty impressive internal compass here in Korea, but sometimes my compass leads us the LONG way.
We sort of got lost, but it ended up being worth it because we got to see some pretty cool things!

First, we got to walk up this super awesome hill.. (I will not miss Korean sidewalks.)

Then we walked down random streets while women hung their laundry out to dry.

And then we saw this!

It was a cute little park!

With some adorable little carvings.

Then we walked down the most deserted, quiet street I've seen in Korea.

And we briefly went to China.

Eventually my super navigation skills led us to the wall. Yes, we have climbed this part before, but we've never walked all the way around!

This is a Google map of Hwaseong Fortress. If you start at the red marker, you can follow the wall all the way around the city. The wall passes right through the middle of the words "Changyong-Daero", "Changyongmun-Ro", and Namsu-dong". Then it's right underneath "Paldallo", right in the middle of the green forest on the left, up to "Paldal-ro" and back to the marker. Just to give you an understanding of where we were today!

Let the adventure begin!

We started climbing.

This was a random restaurant on the way up the mountain. "Coffee, tea, drinks, some foods" haha

Halfway to the top!

Our first real picture with the selfie stick!

We made it to the top! Seonamammun (Southwestern Secret Gate)

Seonamammun- one of the 5 secret gates of Hwaseong

Seosamchi- Western Turret Allowed defenders to protect the fortress walls and drive back approaching enemies.

Here, you could pay to ring the bell that was inside the pavilion.

These little boys were having so much fun ringing the bell.

Drew stopped to get a little arm workout in haha

Seojangdae- Western Command Post This was built in 1794 and the name of it was handwritten on the frame by King Jeongjo.

Drew's goal when using the selfie stick is to make sure you can see the stick in the picture...

The palace where the king would stay.

The palace

There was also a little show with three guys shooting arrows all the way to the other end.

And then there were a bunch of people flying kites.

We took this picture to show were we started our walk. The path on the mountain we climbed at the beginning, Mt. Paldal, is on the very left of the picture. It was getting pretty smoggy at this point, so the picture didn't turn out very well.

In case you wondered what things look like inside the wall now.

The walk took us about three hours.  It's a little over 4 miles all the way around the fortress.  We had so much fun seeing everything and trying to imagine what Korea was like all those years ago.  I really wish I knew more about Korean history!!
After we finished walking around the fortress, we went to Coco Ichibanya for some delicious curry.  And ended our day with a wonderful bubble tea.  
Today was fantastic and I cannot wait for spring to come so we can have more adventures like this!  Next weekend is our trip to the DMZ!  After that, we will have about 8 weekends left in Korea.  Can you believe it?? We're down to 2 months or less!  Can't wait to be home!
Miss you all and see you soon! :)