Gyeongbokgung Palace and Shopping

September 23 and 24 - Seoul/English Village

Our main goal for the 23rd was to see Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the main palace when in it was completed in 1395 of the Josaon Dynasty. It was also at this time that the capital of the new dynasty was moved from Gaeseong to Seoul (then known as Hanyang). The palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and was not reconstructed until 1868. During the Japanese occupation, most of the palace was torn down. An effort to fully restore Gyeongbokgung to its former glory has been ongoing since 1990. For the most part the grounds of the palace were unremarkable except for the area which was the king's retreat - where we took most of our pictures. The best part of the palace experience was seeing the changing of the guard which takes place daily from March to November. It was extremely ceremonial and quite colorful as evidenced in the pictures in our Photo Album linked to this blog. We also went to Insa-dong, a very quaint street market, which was a bit like the art fair on Mill Avenue in Tempe. We wish we could have spent more time there as the merchandise was unique and the atmosphere seemed more conducive to the type of shopping we wanted to do. Instead, we went to Myeongdong which is described in TripAdvisor as "hyper shopping." This, too, was a street market, and, from all appearances, a mecca for Korean young adults. If you have ever gone by Abercrombie & Fitch at the Mall, music pulsating out of the store, well, this was Myeongdong - store, after store, after store. In addition to the stores, tables lined the streets with all sorts of merchandise. Honestly, we walked away, the only purchase being dried sticks of squid (we think) - by Ann and Brian. Tasha entertained us and everyone near us on the subway with a variety of faces (she had this act down last October. She has just expanded her repertoire.) After being in back packs and front packs all day, the girls were thrilled to be back at the hotel and found great delight in looking at themselves in the mirror and then squealing in very high pitches. We left Seoul on the 24th and traveled by train to Yongmun and then embarked for the short taxi ride to the English Village where Brian, Ann and the girls live. The change in scenery was incredible. The English Village is a beautiful campus nestled in the mountains. It was definitely fall in the Village, evidenced by the changing leaves, although the usual chill in the area heralding the onset of fall was absent. Kevin, Jim, and I had a studio apartment in the building next to Brian's. Once we had our luggage settled, we went for a tour of the campus and then Brian, Ann, and I went back to town to buy food and a cake to celebrate Kevin's 26th birthday.