The Adventures of Team Daniels: Auld Lang Syne And Cold Lights Shine

🎌 🎊 Seollal 🎊 🎌

Koreans hit the road during Lunar New Year, and that's exactly what we did. While the locals are traveling to spend 설날 Seollal with their families, we spent family time by playing a game in the car as we drove up north. I was the winner. {🎺 toot toot}

Seollal is an important family celebration. It takes place over the span of a few days. It is centered around 차례 charye, or paying respect to elders. The holiday is observed with large extended family gatherings where they perform old Korean rituals including the youngest children wearing special clothing called 설빔 seolbim and bowing to the elders, gift giving, eating traditional foods, and playing folk games. A soup made of rice cakes, beef, egg and veg called 떡국 tteokguk is eaten; the clear broth and white rice cakes symbolize starting out the year with a clean mind and body. The new year is a time to remember their ancestors and look forward to the future.

Each year is represented by one of the twelve zodiac signs, which take the form of twelve guardian animal deities known as 시비지신 Sibijisin. The year 2022 is the year of the tiger.

🌳 🐇 Nami Island 🐇 🌳

남이섬 Namiseom, literally meaning Nami Island, was our first destination.

Nami is a tiny little half-moon shaped island, only spanning about 460,000 square meters (114 acres). It was formed as a result of the construction of Cheongpyeong Dam on the Bukhan River in 1944. Sujae Min Byeong-do transformed Nami Island in 1965 by planting trees, plants and flowers, thus creating a beautiful escape during all seasons. He gave special interest and support to children's literature, nursery rhymes, and music, creating a 'Fairy Tale Village and Song Village.' Over 3.3 million guests visit Nami annually.

In 2006, Namiseom declared its cultural independence from South Korea with the name Naminara Republic. It has its own passports (that you get with an annual membership), stamps and coins.

Mr. Min Byeong-do had the idea of a special tourist destination that 'promotes the concept of a country' in order to make tourists feel like they are traveling to another imaginary land.

There are two ways to enter Naminara Republic: the first is by zip line, which I totally wanted to do. Unfortunately we arrived too late to take the line. The second way in is by ferry. It is just a quick ten minute ride, at most.

We were greeted by this huge ice formation.

Books because of the founder's support of children's literature.

There were several mother/child sculptures on the island.

The name originates from General Nami (1441-1468), who was known for being a courageous soldier. At the age of 28, General Nami, along with his mother and others, was executed at the hands of a new king because they were falsely accused as traitors. Three hundred fifty years later it was revealed that false evidence was used against him and his official position was restored. Nami Island is home to his tomb.

There are several themes on Nami Island. This is the Central Korean Pine Tree Lane. This walkway lined with pines lead to the center of the island.

Daisy and I road the elevated rail bike through Picture Book Playground.

The island is filled with various wild life. We saw lots of bunnies and peacocks that let you get pretty close, but I couldn't actually pat any. There are also deer, squirrels, chipmunks, ducks and ostriches, but we did not see any of those.

Daisy rang the bell.

Look at this poor momma.

That's right. She is feeding one baby up front and she has another feeding off her boobie thrown over her shoulder. But she's doing it all with a smile.

Metasequoia Lane started as seedlings planted in 1977.

A romantic scene from a K-drama, The Winter Sonata, was filmed at Metasequoia Lane. Actually, every place we visited this trip had a scene from Korean dramas filmed there. There are usually signs posted that boast bragging rights. Koreans like to recreate pictures from the scenes.

They also have preserved bicycles that were used in the movie.

공생원 Gongsaengwon Garden contains a statue of the main characters from the movie.

Chuey has never seen peacocks, but she wanted to say hi up close and personal.

The peacocks only wanted to say hi from afar.

Another happy momma with her kids.

This bridge is called the First Kiss Glass Bridge. It is the glass bridge because of the glass bottles you can see from the front angle; the first kiss part was added because in the Winter Sonata drama the main characters had their first kiss here.

When the children kept walking on frozen streams and ponds I may have been a little worried the ice would break. None of the water was deep, so I decided to choose my battles and let them be really cold if it did. It did not.

There were several fire pits on the island, as well as marshmallows to purchase. Eli said the fire smell reminded him of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows at Grandma and Grandpa's. 💟

🚲 🛤 Gapyeong Rail Park 🛤 🚲

The 무궁화 Mugunghwa train traveled its route in northern South Korea, but after 70 years it ceased to run. The tracks are now home to the 가평레일타크 Gapyeong Rail Park.

That's Eli and Abe in front,

with Daisy, Zeke and I in the second car,

and Chuey!

We pedaled along the Bukhan River, which is a tributary to the Han River in Seoul. It started at the Zelkva Tree Tunnel.

The temperature was about 17ºF.

Not everyone enjoyed the ride.

We rode 30 meters above the Bukhan River across the Bukhanggang Iron Bridge.

Cars drive on the other bridge.

Once we crossed the bridge, we were allowed to get off for a few minutes to take pictures.

Then we went back, completing the 8km round trip.

I have mentioned before that towns have lamp posts with the city theme on them. Gapyeong has music as their theme because they host a large jazz festival every year.

⚜⚜ Petite France ⚜⚜

Next up was 쁘띠프랑스 Petite France, which is a theme park centered around French culture. Walking down to the little village gave me the vibes of the German Village on Namhae; it had the same type of view.

Petite France was constructed in 2008 with the theme concept, "flowers, stars, and the Little Prince." I'm not sure why, but Antoine de Saint-Exupery's character from his book Le Petit Prince is found all around Korea.

This statue is from the part of the story that talks about the baobob tree. It starts out looking like a rose bush, but the roots can destroy a small planet like the Little Prince's. It is presumed that the baobob tree could symbolize bad habits that start small and grow out of control, or it could symbolize Hitler, whose danger did not appear until it was too late, thus Saint-Exupery became a US refugee when he fled France after the German invasion. These thoughts about the meaning behind the baobob tree are just presumptions that I read on various posts.

There are a million photo zones.

Eli had to sneak in a selfie while he was taking my pic.

That says 'Secret Garden' and that was a character from the movie filmed here.

There were several little buildings that were museum-like. The European Doll House featured 300 dolls including rag dolls, Guidnol, Bisque dolls, glazed porcelain dolls, and Marionettes from the Czech Republic. Some dated back to European Medieval Times. Some were a bit creapy.

There were several Marionette stages. Some for live performances and some for you to do the performing. Zeke and Eli put on some shows for us.

My very own life-sized Marionette.

There were also antiques, like these games.

One site said some of the antiques are worth millions. I'm not sure that is entirely accurate. However, I came across this antique for W75,000 (about $70). My Mom has one of those in her kitchen.

🎄 ✨ Garden Of The Morning Calm Light Festival ✨ 🎄

오색별빛정원전 The Light Festival at Garden Of The Morning Calm was the pièce de résistance of our trip.

The Garden of the Morning Calm was designed in 1996 by professor Han San-kyung after he got his inspiration from spending time in America as an exchange professor. It is the oldest private garden in Korea.

San-kyung wanted to spread the concept of Korean beauty throughout the world. Mission accomplished, as approximately a million tourists per year from around the world visit the garden.

It is home to over 5,000 species of plants, sitting on over 330,000 square meters (about 81 acres, or 46 football fields). Three hundred of those plants are native to 백두산 Baekdusan Mountain, known and revered as the Korean Spirit Mountain.

충령산 Chungryeongsan Mountain sits behind the grounds, making a beautiful backdrop.

The name of the garden originated from the nickname for Korea, "land of the morning calm." I thought that was because most of the people wait until late morning to begin their activities. While there is some truth to that, I found reference to the name given way back in the early 1900s during the Josean Dynasty by a great Indian poet; I also found information that linked the name to 1934. The title "Chaohsien" was given, meaning freshness. The name was thought to be well suited to Korea "because of its natural beauty of stunning mountains, clear waters and splendid peacefulness--particularly in the morning." Either way, the country still feels calm in the mornings, and us expats always try to leave early to beat the Korean crowds later in the day.

We met up with the Ts. Linda and I both wanted to view the gardens before dark. The winter landscape was not as beautiful as the spring, summer or fall, but we wanted to see what we have heard so much about. This picture was taken in front of The Morning Plaza.

The grounds are divided into twenty-seven sections. The Garden of Plants, Bonsai Garden, Hometown House Garden, Hakyung Garden, Sky Path, and the Garden of Eden, are just a few. Several movies have been filmed on the grounds, as well.

This quaint little church sits in the heart of the Moonlight Garden, surrounds by birch trees.

Abe got down on his knee and said he thought he was supposed to make it look like he was proposing. I told him I would say yes again, every time.

This is the Stream Garden. In the spring it is full of irises and many other plants.

The 서화연 Seohwayeon Pond Garden was located at the edge and felt very secluded. The plaque stated that traditional Korean landscaping is displayed by combining soft curves and asymmetry.

My boys are posing so sweetly.

My crew got ahead of me while I was taking pictures of the cute little pavillion. I found them--surprise, surprise--walking on the frozen stream at Pagoda Valley.

Guests to the park have built their own little pagodas, wishing on them for good luck.

This big ole guy is called the Millinium Juniper because it's 1000 years old.

This is the Rock Garden.

After the sun set, the lights were beginning to shine. I think the management is pretty brilliant to come up with the Lighting Festival. There are about four festivals a year, each in a different season. The park is brimming with color the other three seasons, but winter doesn't have much to offer, comparatively. Throw on a few thousand LED lights, a violà! Tourist attraction from December through March.

When I say a few thousand lights, a mean about 30,000, give or take a few. It is known to be the biggest illumination event in Korea.

We backtracked so we could see everything in the dark.

J's Cottage Garden is made to resemble the countryside houses in Cotswold, UK. It reminded us of the Gingerbread House.

This.

This area is the Sunken Garden. It is formed in the shape of the entire Korean peninsula, symbolizing the desire for reunification of North and South Korea. During the Light Festival it is beyond amazing.

The Korean Theme Garden has several pagodas.

We made our way back to the suspension bridge at the front.

As we were waiting our turn to take a photo of the bear, we heard a voice cry out, "Leenda!" Lulu had spotted us. She and Kate were there with their families. Five hours from home, no plans to meet up, and we were in the exact same place at the same time.

All the branches on the Drooping Tree Garden were lit up.

✳ ⛄ Snow! ⛄ ✳

We woke up to a world dusted with white!

Snow angels. First up: Daddy.

Eli.

And Zekers. Me and Daisy passed. We did not want to drive all the way home with wet clothes.

I snuggled Chuey in my coat because she was freezing.

Snowball fight prep.

In general, the Korean people are extremely kind and thoughtful. The manager and I were communicating with very broken English/Korean via text and Google translate. After we left she sent this: