Park Towers and City Park!

If you are moving to Seoul near the Yongsan Army post, check out Park Towers and City Park apartments. They are both close to the post, right next to Gate 13 (the visitor gate). They are both nice apartment complexes. 

The best thing about them, from a kid's perspective, is that they have a very spacious connected outdoor area good for running, playing, and basically pretending that you don't live in a huge city.  There are four outdoor parks (two at Park Towers, two in City Park; the one at Park Towers is better for big kids, in my opinion) and overall just a lot of wide open space good for all sorts of things!  The landscaping is beautiful too.  And during the summer there are ponds and creeks that have tadpoles and frogs in them!  

106 is the smallest building at Park Towers and the closest to Gate 13.
It is the one that has PARK TOWER written on it.

I have been living in Park Towers since I have been in Korea (3 years). My mom loves it because of the outdoor area (none of the other apartments we looked at had that option). She also loves how close it is to everything--walking distance to post, less than a mile to the schools, and right next to Ichon Subway stop on line 4, which is a great subway line with tons of cool things to see.  I think she also loves the fact that there are lots of other expats here so it's easy to find English-speaking friends.  Oh, and the Seoul American Elementary School has a bus stop right in front of City Park (next door to Park Towers).  Oh, and she wants me to add a few more things she likes:  Both City Park and Park Towers have indoor playrooms perfect for young kids during the winter and one of the Park Towers outdoor parks is covered so it's great during the summer monsoon season.  The apartments are super nice with incredible views of Seoul.  And, both apartment complexes have saunas and gyms.  Park Towers has six buildings, each about 40 stories high. We live on the 22nd floor now, but we used to be on the 29th (we moved to a bigger apartment after our first year here).  

I find it amusing that every Park Tower building has a lonely vase
of fake flowers at the end of a very very plain hallway. 

Since we are so close to the Army base, helicopters fly by our window all the time! Before I came here, I would have been super excited to see a helicopter (or a train for that matter).  Now, I don't even always look up!  But it's still pretty cool.  I like to get pictures of them from outside and through the window.  When President Obama came to visit, we were able to watch Marine One and all the other Blackhawks and Chinook helicopters arrive, then watch their whole motorcade (more than 30 cars!) cruise off down the road.  Then a few days later, we watched them all leave.

Another cool thing about Park Towers is that there are a few stores down on the main level.  7-11 is always good for ice cream or other treats and the Orangemart has other essentials, like fresh eggs and produce.  There is also a little Farmer's Market down on the sidewalk just past City Park with fresh, in-season produce every morning (and a pretty smelly, impressive array of mostly fresh fish and other weird seafood).  There are also a bank, a Paris Baguette (bread store), several great restaurants, and two dentists.  Gina Sohn is the dentist at U.S. Dental at Park Towers and she accepts Tricare and works with Army families.  We went to her once when we couldn't get an appointment with our regular dentist and she was nice.

This is one of Park Tower's parking garages.

During the summer, there are fountains in front of Park Towers and City Park that are great to cool off in.  It's still hot enough at night during July and August to play in the fountains at night while they put on a color show choreographed to music.  It's the perfect end to a summer day.

The fountains usually spray two to four times a day (a different schedule every year, so ask the management office to find out when they will be on).

During the winter when it snows, there are hills to sled down.  The snow doesn't usually last long, but it's fun while it's here.

Another thing I love about living here is that it is just a short walk down to the river.  You can just walk under the street through the subway station and straight out to the Han River where there is a walking path, lots of parks, bicycles to rent, a skate park, basketball hoops, and soccer fields, among other things.  It's a great place to walk or ride bikes.

Ichon is also a great neighborhood with lots of restaurants (including a Jamba Juice and Baskin' Robbins).