Busan!

Wow! Just remembered that I never blogged the rest of my summer vacation adventure. You heard all about Jeju so now it's time you read about Busan. As I explained in the last blog, I decided to fly back to Busan rather than spend another 11 hours trying not to get seasick on the ferry. Catherine and I got up nice and early and hit McDonald's for a Egg McMuffin. It was the first fast food I had eaten in Korea, and I was very proud of the fact that I had gone that long :-) Anyway, we went to the airport, and after a very short 1/2 hour flight, we were in Busan! After a bus and subway ride, we finally made it to the guesthouse I was staying in. I stayed at the Actor & Tourist Guesthouse. It only cost me 15,000 won a night, and it was great! We dropped our luggage off and went to explore. We found these buses that take you around Busan and drop you off at different sites throughout the city for only 10,000 won. Cat and I hopped on one and were off!
The first place we went was Yongdusan Park. You walked down about 999,999 steps until you got to the ocean...then you had to walk back up the damn steps! It was a beautiful place!




We got back on the bus and headed to Taejongdae Park where we waited to hop a trolley that would take us around. Sure you could walk, but we were Americans and weren't having any of that!



Unfortunately, Catherine had a plane to catch back to Seoul, so we headed back to the guesthouse. I was hoping to catch the nighttime bus that went around the city, but I got there at 6:50 and "bus all full!" So I called it a night.
The next day was Monday and I was on my own. I picked a random stop on the subway to get off at and started my journey. I walked around a good chunk of the city not knowing where I was going. It was great!! I loved it :-) I found a couple museums, but they were all closed. Apparently, all Korean culture takes Monday off. So I walked into one of many Paris Baguette's in Korea for lunch. I ordered my sandwich and coffee and sat down to eat. All of a sudden these Korean chicks start screaming at one another. Sadly, I had no idea what they were saying. It's times like that I really wish I knew Korean! Anyway, it was hilarious and got to the point where the manager had to step in and ask one of them to leave. After lunch, I decided to go to the Busan Aquarium since it was the only place open on Mondays. It's on Haeundae Beach, which is supposed to be the best beach in Busan. Sure it's the best, if you like overcrowded beaches that you can't walk on without walking into a damn umbrella! Anyway, the aquarium was like any other one you've been too. Here are some pics:



And that was the end of Monday. I went back to guesthouse and hung out for the night. On Tuesday, I decided to take another bus tour. This one took a different route. My first stop was the UN Memorial Cemetery. It will definitely be one of my most memorable experiences here in Korea. There was a small museum there, and a man who fought in the war and spoke fairly good English, showed me around while telling me stories of the war. I asked to take a picture, but unfortunately, he refused. I didn't realize what a huge sacrifice America made during those years. Especially when compared to the rest of the U.N. Here are some photos...first the Busan Museum.



I then hopped back on the bus to visit two museums, the Busan Museum and the Busan Museum of Art. Your typical museums, but here are some pics of what they had to offer:




And the Busan Museum of Art:





After all that, I took the bus back to Busan Station and headed back to the guesthouse. At this point, I was done with Busan and just wanted to get back to Jukjeon. I quickly packed and booked it to the train station just in time to get a KTX back to Seoul.
It was a fabulous few days!!!
Love you all!