Seoul Weekend

We arrived via KTX on Friday June 14, had dinner in Insa-dong (an arty neighborhood with lots of cafes),
and did the Seoul city bus tour on Saturday.
Here we are getting ready for the tour and drinking our morning lattes by a main road.  See the statue behind us?

Here's another view- he's Admiral Yi Sun Shen.
Behind him is a large statue of King Sejeon, who ruled in the 1400's and invented the Korean alphabet and the rain gauge.
And behind him is the entrance to the royal palace of the Joseon dynasty (more on that later). 

Here's another view of Admiral Yi Sun Shen, a very famous figure in Korean history,
 who fought off several Japanese invasions in the 1500's.
 He was a naval genius also known for his exemplary conduct.  

The tour bus took us along Cheonggyecheon stream. This is a five-mile long stream with parks on its banks,
below street level that runs through the center of Seoul. There are 20 bridges that cross it and various mosaics etc. on some of the walls.  A truly lovely and peaceful place.

Our bus took us past several palaces from the Joseon Dynasty (1400- 1910 AD), like this one...

.... and this one... We didn't stop at these although they were impressive..

...but we did stop at the royal Joseon dynasty palace, Gyeongbok, built in 1392 to house the kings and queens of Korea.
They lived here from 1392-1910.
The entry gate here is the same one seen from afar in my second photo.
Here is the changing of the royal guards.

The ceremony includes the passing of a baton.

Guards changed and now exiting, with swords in hand.

.. on they go into the palace grounds, and we followed.

Here is the view of another gate/building once you enter the grounds.

.. and turning around to look towards the entry gate from inside the palace grounds.  A cool view of old and new architecture!

The palace has an excellent museum with lots of royal art and artifacts from the Joseon dynasty.
This winged tiger banner was one of my favorites. 

I also liked this Korean dragon vase.

We were captivated by the Haetae statues.  These are stone dog-like creatures which were believed to provide protection from fire and evil persons. They are also a symbol of Seoul. 

.. More ceramic roof ornament creatures, guardians against fire.
Protection from fire was extremely important as the houses and palaces are all made of wood and heated via under-floor flues. 

Here's a rooftop guardian in action.  Notice the CCTV camera under the eave, providing a different kind of protection. ☺

The royal palace grounds cover several acres.
On the left is the perimeter wall as it stretches back towards several gates and buildings. 

The palace grounds have dozens of buildings.  They were offices or housing for the royalty and their servants and soldiers.
Notice the fire extinguisher outside--
Fire is still a concern with these wooden structures and each building also has a lightning rod on it.
Many of the original wooden buildings were burned during Japanese occupations so some are replicas.

Gyeongbok palace is a relaxing place to walk and see many interesting views of the gates and grounds. 

Here's a stone lion guarding the throne room building.

Inside the throne room- the royal throne and original screen painting with sun, moon, and five mountains.

Here's Marly posing by the replica. ☺

Here is a Haetae outside the main gate, guarding the entrance.  They are a beloved tradition.
As the royal palace guard for hundreds of year, this one is quite famous and his face is used as a logo of Seoul.

After all that walking, we stopped at a bakery which I think rivaled the ones in Paris... lots of tasty pastries.

Back on the bus, we rode past the impressive Korean War Memorial and museum.
This is a place we'll have to stop and visit one day when we have more time. 

..we rode through the famous Itaewon neighborhood with lots of shopping and restaurants for foreigners,
 before stopping at Seoul Tower. This is on top of a mountain in the center of Seoul (had to angle it in this photo to fit more!)

The 360 degree views from the top were incredible. 

We were there as the sun started to set and the city was beautiful!

Seoul tower is home to some lock displays; a fence and a couple of "trees" covered completely in locks and items
that people have written love notes on- like the bridge in Paris. ♥

It was fun to be up by Seoul tower as the city lights started to come on.

Back to the bus and had dinner in Insa-dong again, before we took the Metro back to the hotel.
Seoul's subway system is easy to use and very clean.
It seems there's always a friendly Korean ready to help if needed, too. ☺

We spent Sunday cheering Marly on in her skate competition at Mokdong Ice Rink.
She's getting ready to perform here.

The place was hectic with about 200 skaters and parents there.  The competition  went on all afternoon.

Marly did great and won first place in her division!  A 2010 Olympic silver medalist, Shin Baek, presented the medals.

Happy girl with her medal.  We enjoy watching her skate. ♥

Mar and her friend Angela both won first-place medals. ☺

We had a great time in Seoul- wish we could have stayed longer!