Tyler and I work a lot, therefore on the weekends we do our best to seize the day. As we've created this blog a few weeks into the game, we'll be summarizing the previous weekend's adventures as best we can. Hopefully from here on out we can keep up with ourselves.
Our first week or so in Korea was a bit rough with the time change and the stressful inundation of information at work. A sixteen hour difference is nothing to joke about! As soon as our bodies caught up with the change we hit the trail. Our first trip into Seoul brought us to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace was constructed in 1394 by the Joseon Dynasty though much was destroyed by the Japanese in 1592. It's enormous, with so many little buildings that it begins to feel like a maze. In the center lies an amazing lotus pond with the cutest bridge I've ever seen!
We also visited the National Korean Folk Museum, which was holding a special exhibit for the 60 year anniversary of the Korean war. For no extra fee we got to see a bit deeper into the Korean culture. I never really realized the deep ramifications of the Korean war and how the separation still defines the peninsula to this day. The exhibit did a great job of putting the viewer into the time period with old records to listen to and journals to read. We even saw the uniforms of American soldiers who fought in the Korean war. Tyler and I look forward to touring the DMZ in August and learning more about the war that never ended.
We also visited the National Korean Folk Museum, which was holding a special exhibit for the 60 year anniversary of the Korean war. For no extra fee we got to see a bit deeper into the Korean culture. I never really realized the deep ramifications of the Korean war and how the separation still defines the peninsula to this day. The exhibit did a great job of putting the viewer into the time period with old records to listen to and journals to read. We even saw the uniforms of American soldiers who fought in the Korean war. Tyler and I look forward to touring the DMZ in August and learning more about the war that never ended.
Gwanghwamun gate opens onto what seems to be Seoul's equivalent of the Champs-Elysees. We were half-lost when we took a stroll down this huge boulevard and stumbled upon a monument commemorating the king of the same name, who invented the Turtle ship. Another monument was erected for Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty who is credited for the creation of Hangul (Korean). We watched children frolic through the gushing fountain and caught a bit of the mist ourselves. This is a very central area of Seoul and the location of many of the foreign embassies, including the American Embassy. Hopefully we won't have to make a visit to that any time soon!
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