Plan B for Saturday once realizing you must have your Passport in order to go to the DMZ and Mallory's is at immigration waiting on her alien card: Go explore a royal palace.
So after being up and ready to go on Saturday morning around 9:30am, Mal and I head back to her apartment, get out her very touristy South Korea Lonely Planet book and do some research. We decide to take the metro to Changdeokgung Palace (yes that's for real) to see the living quarters of South Korea's last royal family. We sign up for the 11:30am English tour that costs 3,000 won (less than $3.)
The architecture is absolutely stunning and dates back to the year that is 1412. King and Queen had separate living quarters, although at night, the Queen was allowed to go to the King's chambers and stay with him, but only at night. On the way to the Secret Garden, my favorite part of the tour, we pass under an ancient limestone doorway that has 3 symbols above it which stand for: "Never Get Older." And, you better believe I'm walking under that, maybe even several times. The guide said that this symbolized vitality and the royals would walk under it often.
The Secret Garden was just as you can imagine it by its name. Gorgeous. Serene. A place of leisure and relaxation for the royal family.
After our tour we wander around looking for food. We stumble across this random place on some side street with a sign that says "English Menu," so we go in. Basically, unless I am with a person who speaks Korean, or unless there are pictures, I am screwed as far as ordering food goes. We are greeted by a very friendly man who speaks to us in Korean, to which we do not speak back, to which he laughs and says "ahhh ahhhh." (To me this feels like he is thinking, you silly Americans!) We all laugh. We take off our shoes and sit on the floor to eat. This is a common tradition in many Korean restaurants. There is a group of English speakers next to us, who also happen to speak Korean. Our waitress asks them in Korean to help us order. Clearly they are regulars and perhaps they are the so-called English menu?!
So we order Bibimbap and some other tofu soup dish. Before leaving we ask our neighbors for ideas of what to do in this area of Seoul. After following their directions, we find ourselves amongst in a darling part of the city with bunches of little coffee shops, ice cream shops, street vendors, small art galleries, and tons of restaurants! It is absolutely lovely. We sit outside and eat some ice cream. Then we get coffee. Then we look at clothes. Then art galleries.
We spend the afternoon walking around this area known as Samcheongno until we end up at the base of a beautiful mountain. Everything is in bloom here right now so it is just beautiful. We decide no mountain hiking as our feet may just fall off at this point. Seven hours of walking around a new city can exhaust you. I am not concerned as I have about 51 weeks left to hike some mountains. :) Now, it is time for a nap to rejuvenate before the festivities of the evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment