Changdeokgung and Gyeongbokgung

The second day of our trip, Sunday July 5th: We spent most of the day at two massive palaces: Changdeokgung (which is only available to tourists via guided tours at specific times) and Gyeongbokgung.

We were fifteen minutes late for the English tour at Changdeokgung, but we sweet-talked our way in anyway :D

The main hall of Changdeokgung



self-explanatory



The king's carriages would pull up here and drop off important people

Glimpses of modern Seoul over the trees

After a walk through the forest we found this 'secret garden'. The pond is square, symbolizing the universe (which Koreans actually thought was square). The circular island symbolizes Earth, at the center of the square universe.

The building at the top of the hill was King Sejong's royal library. People would come from all over to study there...and it's also where students would take exams in front of the king. No pressure there...

The big gate in the middle was for the King's use only...the two smaller gates on the sides were for servants.

A study room for one of the princes. It's the only building at this particular palace that faces north, which is apparently good for studying.

This gate is pretty awesome. Whoever passes through it will never grow old...and also gets to make a wish. Can't beat that!

Leaving the 'secret garden' area

This tree is believed to be several hundred years old. Our guide told us the only way they could tell for sure was to cut it down, a process that seems a bit counter-productive in my opinion.

Gyeongbokgung :

easily the most impressive-looking palace we saw that weekend.

Mountain overlooking the palace.

Pagoda in the distance

Me in front of the main hall

The courtyard for this palace was huuuuuuuuge and could easily accommodate hundreds of people for ceremonies, coronations, etc.

This is what my throne would look like if I were a Korean king...

A view of the courtyard facing away from the main hall

The ceiling of the main hall was incredibly ornate and beautifully painted.

Some more of those mysterious and decorative chimneys

Ancient Seoul vs. Modern Seoul

The hall behind me was built literally right on this huge pond. It was used by the king to entertain important people...and it looked like a postcard.

A lotus blossom growing in the pond.

Another view of the hall

Cool buildings in the distance

One of the main gates

If you've seen The Ring, you understand this picture. If only my hair was black!!

My all-time favorite place in this particular palace. The little pagoda is built on an island and the only way to reach it is to venture over the small wooden footbridge. I want one of these in my backyard at home...

Another view

A spring flowed into the pond, first going through this little rock basin. It felt realllly good on my feet but it was also super cold.

The water also tastes good too!

There's the pagoda!

And that concludes our 3-part Seoul series! We'll be posting about our trip to Japan as soon as we get back, I'm sure. 안녕히 가세요 (goodbye) for now!

I'm a Seoul man

We only saw a tiny bit of Seoul on the last trip because of rain but were intrigued by what we did see...so two weeks later, there was a clear forecast and we were back in S-town.

Our first day there was Fourth of July so we headed to the most American restaurant we could find - KFC. I think the Colonel would be proud!


The entrance of Deoksugung Palace. You can see the guards standing out front with their blue and red uniforms. They're incredibly good at standing still...I was convinced one of them was made of wax until he looked straight at me.



King Sejong the Great. The bird on his hand is actually real...just taking a break, I guess.




King Sejong inspired me to do some deep thought thinking...



Brian is a beast, as is this cat statue in the palace complex.

The main stone avenue leading up to the throne room.

The throne!

Some cool architecture

A picture of the last royal family, I believe, taken in the early 20th century.

This building was designed and built by an English architect for the Korean king in the early 20th century. It looked really out of place in the palace, as you can imagine. It was huuuuge.

English-inspired gardens / fountain in front of the English-inspired building. It had just started to rain...notice the family attempting to evade the rain.

This wing of the palace is now an art museum. A good view of the fountain (the water is coming out of seals' mouths).

Playing around on the gigantic porch

We wondered forever what these chimney-like thingys were...and then realized they were chimneys. They aren't actually adjacent to any buildings but are apparently connected underground somehow. They wanted to ventilate the smoke away from the buildings so that it wouldn't damage the special paint reserved for palace buildings only.

Of course we had to return to On The Border for some more fajitas & chimichangas...delicious. I also met a guy there who once lived in VA Beach and had been to Luray Caverns! It's a very small world.

Later that night we went to Yeouido Park (a very popular park in Seoul) and rented a tandem bike for an hour. Man, that thing was fun! We even managed to get some sweet air off the speed bumps in the bike path :)

These domestic-looking rabbits were running wild throughout the park....I'm still not quite sure why they were there!

Another King Sejong statue & the moon...a pretty cool pic, if I do say so myself :)

And that ends Seoul Trip #2, Day 1. More to follow!