Tourist Saturday

The Grand Entrance

So as things at work and home become a bit more normal- I decided to start what I hope will be a weekly event: Tourist Saturday! Please, please- withhold your excitement for just a moment while I explain.

You see, my schedule here is Korea is not what I would call taxing. I don’t have to be at work until 1:30 pm on most days, which leaves plenty of time for sight seeing in the morning, right?! Wrong. It leaves plenty of time for me to explore just how lazy one person can be: verdict? Pretty darn lazy.

SO- I instituted tourist Saturday as a way to get myself out to see just what this country has to show me. Up first?

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Changing of the guard

The biggest palace of the Joseon Dynasty, this palace burnt down during the Japanese invasion, and was rebuilt in the late 1800s. And let me just say…WOW. I have never seen anything like it. Every detail down to the adornments on the banisters and the chimneys looks thought out and extremely well executed.

As I was exiting the train station, I could hear drum beats and scurried out to see what was going on. It just so happens that I arrived just as a changing of the guard ceremony was concluding, so I caught the very end of it. Lucky me!

The ceiling of the Throne Room with a dragon- the symbol of the King

Also quite coincidentally, when I arrived there was a free English language tour starting, so I jumped on that and got a much more in depth look at the palace than I would have otherwise. It was mostly outside, and it was COLD (Ballet flats and cropped jeans were a bad idea…), but still incredibly enjoyable. We walked all around the grounds and looked at all of the different buildings, the King’s throne room, his bedroom, the Queen’s bedroom, the King’s Mother’s suite, the concubines quarters, and even the gardens- to which my tour guide said, ‘In the spring this garden is very beautiful with flowers and blossoms, but right now you will have to use your imagination and come back in the spring.’ Thank you tour guide- SEE YOU THEN.

A closer look at the stunning paintwork

Tourist Saturday Part Deux

After I was finished at the palace, I experienced my only fail of the day.  I wanted to go to a place called Insadong, which is a pretty large market place of antiques, souvenirs and street food, a very touristy thing to do- however I couldn’t find it. I went to the right metro stop, and got out at the right exit, but no luck. I concluded that it was either to cold or too late in the day for anyone to be out, but one of my coworkers told me today that you have to find one specific street in the area, which I obviously failed at finding. Another time! I have a year to figure it out!

Tourist Saturday Part Tres

I was feeling a little bit of that ‘everyone at home is heading home for the holidays for family and good food and I am alone in a foreign country’ ache, so I decided to get out there and see what kind of holiday cheer I could scare up. I was more successful than I ever could have imagined- for on the very day that I wanted to be out and about in Seoul, a local international choir was having their annual ‘Handel’s Messiah’ concert with a special pre concert from the children of the Seoul International School. Lucky! I didn’t get any great pictures of the performance, but it was excellent. A great choir with a great orchestra. I got chills during ‘For unto us a child is born’ and, of course, the ‘Hallelujah chorus.’

All in all it was a great day. I got out, I saw things, and got a little more acquainted with this new country I call home.

Parade O' Police

PS : While I was walking around Seoul, I kept seeing huge numbers of police officers in full on riot gear marching around the city. At the time I thought it very strange as there were no protests going on, but in retrospect, I wonder if they had gotten news of Kim Jong Il's passing. The South Korean government has been put on alert, and I hope no future Tourist Saturday plans get ruined...