Nothing we intended to do worked out (isn't that the way?), but I think we liked that better. We wanted to go see a Taekwondo demonstration at Gyeonghuigung Palace. We found the palace, but we couldn't find the Taekwondo. Instead, we walked around the palace almost completely by ourselves. It's set back, sort of in the woods, and it was so green and so quiet, and we couldn't believe that we live in Korea. The Seoul Museum of History was just beyond the palace, so we paid our 70 cents each and walked through an exhibit on the Korean War, another exhibit borrowed from London, and a 1:1500 scale model of Seoul. On Friday night, we had gone to see the movie 71: Into the Fire, about the 71 volunteer student soldiers who fought alone to defend a school in Pohang during the Korean War, so the museum's exhibit on the war felt more immediate to us.
Sunday was our second try at Dr. Fish, and our second shut down. But this time, a clue! The cashier showed us a little English note explaining that they could no longer play Dr. Fish, but that the Restree Cafe in Gangnam still could. So, Gangnam it is. Korrine was with us for that, and we walked around Jongno for a bit before we ate dinner at Subway, the restaurant not the underground.
Roofs in the woods.
The greenest grass, and it had recently rained so there were rain drops.
The paper on one of the windows was torn, so I peaked in the room. Nothing doing.
Wall.
Dan standing on a big rock.
Running water.
Rain drops like I said.
Dan standing in front of what was originally called "King's Rock" and, so being named, the reason King Sukjong built his palace here. Water collects beneath it and travels along the man made stream, providing clean drinking water to those savvy royal Koreans.
Dragon shingles on the wall.
A spider's web and some ants working on a leaf. That's nature.
City.
The path to the Seoul Museum of History.
Propaganda.
Propaganda wrapping paper. Merry Christmas, Imperialists!
A note with an artifact. Demand food from the communists!
Help and corn from America, like a good country song.
Cincinnati always represents. LIFE featuring "The Tafts of Cincinnati" and the Cincinnati Enquirer calling Commies Reds.
A Portrait of London but no photos of the portraits allowed. They had photos of Londoners from the 1800s. It was insane.
Seoul by day, by night.
This island on the right is Seonyudo Park. We went there on our 13th weekend.
Seoul Tower is on the mountain on the left. We went there on our first weekend.
And this is where we breathed our first Korean air, at Incheon Airport.
We watched kids and some parents run through the fountain in front of the museum. It was a tricky fountain, because it would get really low and then explode after it had lured in you and your curious face. That did not sit well with a particularly tiny Korean girl. The boy standing in the second picture took the most advantage of the fountain and punctuated his excitement with a couple of soaked hugs to his mom.
Ancient bridge or at least these heads are ancient or they're at least replicas of something that was ancient before the Japanese burned everything down.
So this is patbingsu, which Dan has eaten twice, this time with a shovel spoon. This cafe, Cafe M. Bao, has the absolute best Americano I've had in Korea, and they gave us free cookies because we go there sometimes.
Sunday in the underground shopping center at Jongno. Closed for business.
Our view from and of the Subway. The first floor of the Subway was actually like the current Western iteration, but the second floor still had these yellow booths. It felt jarringly like America.
Amping up for a storm.
This is not a spaceship, but it totally could be if it wanted to.
Icons at 7-Eleven. How convenient!
-Serenity
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