October 29 Tuesday.
Because we had gone to bed so early,
we got up at around 6:40. Breakfast was
at the hotel on the second floor. Lots
of different food. Koreans eat salad
kind of things, apparently, for breakfast. Eggs good. In general, a good feed.
We met the guide downstairs at 9
AM. Heidi. Nice girl.
She smiled, unlike our last time Seoul guide who was as blue and sour as
the weather. We walked from the hotel to
the Changeok Palace. Main meeting hall
first. To get to the royal quarters we had to go through 3
gates each facing a different direction (north, east, then west?) The king’s
quarters, the wives quarters to the rear.
Best information was how the rooms were heated. Furnaces underneath provided the warmth for
the floors, the chimneys for the furnaces were some distance from the
buildings. Clever set up. Chinese in character, but obviously different
in generic design. The end of the
Changeok reign was when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1910. They were occupiers until 1943 when they were
defeated in WWII.
Many of the rooms we could look into had furnishings
We were struck by the contours of the rooftops with the mountains behind them
A furnace under the floors of the sleeping rooms
The chimney was set apart from the home Obviously, less smoke for the people inside.
Lots of people (particularly women and girls) dressed up in old fashioned clothing (Han Bok). Apparently, if you went to a museum dressed in the fashion of the times, you got in free.
The gardens had some lovely buildings for parties, contemplation, or just beauty. Many had artificial pools near the buildings too.
After the palace tour, we went on to
the Changeok Gardens, behind the palace itself.
Several pavilions had been built in the gardens each with a stream or
pond. The gardens were several acres
(70?) and very peaceful and quiet. We
did hear a wood pecker banging away, but pretty much lovely. We walked around quite a bit. Then up 70 steps for the fast way out.
After the palace/garden tour we
walked through what had been a neighborhood of old houses built for the palace civil
servants – kind of the original Korean “deep state” guys. After a time, the owners subdivided the
houses, but much of the original homes were still there. Throughout the palace, the garden, and the old
houses were lots of people (mostly under the age of 30) dressed in original
Korean get ups. Apparently, if you’re
dressed up like that, you get into the museum for free. But there were lots of people wandering
around that weren’t at the palace. The
costumes are called the Hanbok style. You can rent an outfit for 2 hours, if you
so desire.
Beginning of the civil servants neighborhood. Most buildings far more elegant than the ones here
Aha! You can rent the costumes. The rental places were all over.
We then stopped at the Maple Tree
House Restaurant. A Korean place. We had beef rib stew with lots of Korean
pickles. Very nice meal.
After lunch we walked to the Cheonggyecheon. It’s an urban renewal project that originally
had been a roadway over a slum. All was
cleared away, and now it’s a stream with art work on the walls and an 11 km
walk. We went a few kilometers along the
stream. Quite nice
All along the renewal river were floats set up for an upcoming parade
The walls along the river also decorated. This was one of my favorites.
Then we went to an overlook in a
building that was very modern in its time.
On the ninth floor was an overlook of the city and I managed to get some
nice photos up there.
Our next stop was the Kwang Jang
Market. A market made up of a lot of
stalls with wonderful things. Several in
the beginning were fabric stalls and clothing.
Then miscellaneous kitchen needs and Knick knacks. Finally came a long array of stalls filled
with food things. Fish, candies,
cookies, pancakes, dried goods, gensing .
Clearly my favorite part of the place.
We bought Korean chopsticks and spoons.
View from the tall city building.
Another view
Some kimchee inside the market.
We got a taxi and are resting back
in the hotel. Wonderful day!
After our rest we decided to head
out for dinner. We went out a side door
of the hotel – past the Crystal Jade.
Crossed a street and found, after a bit, a small street filled with
little shops for tourists and locals.
Some had gorgeous things, some had trash. Lots of tea places. Our problem is that we weren’t sure if the
food shown was just tea snacks – more?
Less? We eventually found a
cheapie place that had udon soup and dumplings.
It was OK. On the way back we
bought a few more Korean spoons – love these guys. Home,
bed.
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