way, way back on saturday, may 27th gabe and i did some major site seeing around seoul. unfortunately it was raining really hard most of the morning and early afternoon, but since it was gabe's last weekend in town, we had to make the best of it.
rainy site seeing
korean soccer star 박지성 (park ji sung) on a downtown building
as i walked through downtown to meet gabe at the palace 경복�(gyeongbokgung) just north of downtown seoul, it was obvious that they were really gearing up for the upcoming world cup. this is the part of town where tons of fans gather to watch the games on huge screens.
i literally laughed out loud when i saw these
from left: park ji sung, lee chun soo, and park chu young
광화문 (gwanghwamun), the gate that leads to the palace
i actually got this picture a few days earlier when gabe and i met there but it was too late to go inside
back to the rainy day beyond the gate, looking to the entrance of gyeongbokgung
the best part about these guards in traditional costume are their fake beards
umbrellas were absolutely necessary as the rain was coming down as hard as i've seen it in seoul
the main building inside the palace
gabe demonstrating the solemn and humble awe inspired by the ancient palace
getting a good shot of the inside of the main building is tough since the lighting is low
i don't know what this building is, but it looked nice
경회루(gyeonghoeru), set on a pond and also found on the back of the ₩10,000 bill
gabe posing in front of gyeonghoeru
i noticed there were lots of large fish in the water
next it was my turn to pose in front of gyeonghoeru
from there we walked further towards the back of the palace. there is a series of four chimneys and a larger one near the back that were used to heat the living quarters.
some old fashioned chivalry at the palace
it would have been pretty tough for one of the kids from this group to get lost
this is one of my favorite parts of the palace
one good thing about the rain was that not many people showed up at the palace, especially considering it was saturday. when gabe and i were looking at this pagoda, which is located at the back of the palace, we were literally the only ones there.
behind the pagoda were additional parts of the palace under construction
a photo of the part they're rebuilding as it appeared in 1910
the palace has actually been restored and rebuilt a few times since it was originally built back in 1394. basically the japanese kept destroying it over various invasions and occupations, more info here.
after we were done checking out the palace, we headed next door to the national folk museum of korea, which mostly we weren't too impressed by. they did, however, have some really neat sculptures of the animals of the chinese zodiac, which i felt necessitated a post entirely of its own.
when we got out of the museum, the rain had let up and we went for a stroll through downtown.
i really like the uneven design of the sk telecom building
more world cup revelry as we walked south towards myeongdong
i really like this tree they have on the temple grounds
some amazing markings on the temple
it was a full day, and despite the weather we managed to see a ton of stuff. it was cool that gabe was in town because it gave me a good reason to see all of these places again.
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