i was battling jet lag for the majority of my first week back in korea after a trip to the states over the holidays. my sleep schedule was all over the place so i found myself hardly leaving my apartment and after a week of that i was getting cabin fever and needed to get out of the house. fortunately i'd recently gotten an email from misun recommending some of her favorite places to check out in seoul. so sunday, january 21st i set out towards western seoul to check out 하늘공� (haneul gongwon, sky park) nearby the world cup stadium.
sky park
the stairs leading up to the raised park
from the top looking down towards the world cup stadium
at the first level up there was a little meeting area, with another path that i followed out to the west a bit. i didn't really know where i was going or what to expect, so i was just exploring and trying to see what i could see.
looking down at a bridge spanning the han river
this quiet little path was crawling with couples on this sunday afternoon
the path came to a dead end and i ended up back at the top of the stairs, but i noticed there was another area i could go towards that was even higher up. after following that around and up i realized that this was the actual park.
the entrance to the park
the name of the park engraved on a rock signified the entrance
하늘 (haneul) means sky and 공� (gongwon) means park. as soon as i got there it was clear as to why this park had been named sky park. it is so high up that unless you are at the edges, you cannot see nor even get the sense that you are in the city of seoul. all you can see are the fields around you and the big bright sky. it was the dead of winter when i was there and it was nice, but i can imagine in the spring it would be even more beautiful and peaceful there.
with a huge flat field with paths twisting throughout, this was a park like no other i'd ever been to
a couple walking down a path together
from the western edge of the park, looking down at the han river
trees and brush silhouetted against the sky
groups and families walking down seemingly endless paths
the stadium and stairs before descending
looking back up at the stairs up to what felt like a secret park on a hill
from the bottom of the park i had to walk back to the subway station at the world cup stadium.
a bridge over a stream running through the world cup park across the street from the stadium.
the world cup stadium sign lit by a setting winter sun
a surreal observation while riding the escalator down to the subway station
tagged: korea park seoul sky park world cup stadium 하늘공�
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