As I mentioned, we didn't have much
planned for our first of numerous sojourns into Seoul. There was one place from
our lengthy Google doc "list" that I wanted to visit, but everything
else we just decided on as we went.
February 18th (Sunday)
February 18th (Sunday)
Our first and only goal for the day
was to visit Gyeongbokung, an ancient palace in northern Seoul that is a
must-do for any visitor to the city. From Ande's neighborhood we took the bus
from Suwon to Seoul, which usually takes anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour.
Then we took the metro to Gyeongbokung, exiting the station right outside the
National Palace Museum of Korea (though Gyeongbokgung is the main attraction,
the National Palace Museum of Korea and the National Folk Museum of Korea are
in the same compound as the palace).
I was a tad hungry by the time we
got there, so we took a stroll down Sejong-ro, which is the major street
that leads south straight from Gyeongbokgung. Ande told me that a lot of
protests are held on this street, and true enough a few demonstrators had
booths pitched along the sidewalk. But Sejong-ro was full of other activity
this day, including a traditional Korean drum ensemble and various
Olympics-related activities adding to the usual flow of auto and foot traffic. 
Sejong-ro is also where you can find statues of Sejong the Great (Korean king
who's credited with the creation of hangul, the Korean alphabet) and
Admiral Yi Sun-shin (navy commander who's renowned for
winning battles against the Japanese navy in the late 1500s). Along Sejong-ro
you can also find the US embassy and Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. We
spent some time munching, chatting, and taking in the view from the second
floor of an Angel-in-us Coffee before heading back to the palace.
Imagine you're royalty, and centuries
after your death, millions of common people get to traipse around your
sprawling home every year, for decades to come. That's Gyeongbokgung. I wasn't
as impressed by it as I was by the overall experience at Hwaseong Fortress, and
Ande even admitted that it's probably better to go in the summer when fewer
areas of the palace are closed and more events/performances are going on.
Nonetheless, it is quite beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing young men
and women walking around the buildings and living quarters dressed in hanbok
(Korean traditional clothing). The flowy, high-waisted skirts and vibrant
colors invite both awe and respect.
From Gyeongbokgung we took the metro
to Hongdae to find somewhere to eat. No particular reason for coming here as
opposed to elsewhere, other than that I heard that it's a university area
where college students and other young'uns often gather to hang out and crowd
around buskers. I guess I was just curious to see what the busking musicians
were up to.
When we were there it was mostly dancers who were attracting
attention, and not so many singers were out yet. The main popular street we
went down was packed even before sundown, so you had to squeeze through to get
anywhere. And being around so many youthful, stylish and energetic people reminded me of how young I no
longer am. But for me it was satisfying enough just to have seen a bit of
Hongdae for myself. After being turned away at one restaurant (perks of being
foreigners), we ate samgyeopsal (Korean BBQ with pork belly) at Ungteori before
heading back to Suwon.
Most often we would take the metro
back to Sadang station and then catch the bus from there. This night at Sadang
happened to be my lucky night, since as we were headed toward the exit where
the bus stops were, I spotted a rack of earmuffs out of the corner of my eye.
I finally found a new pair of earmuffs that I liked enough to replace the ones
I lost in Seattle! And I'll have you know, they're sitting on the table next to
me as I write this, so my habit of losing things hasn't reared its ugly head just yet.So that's Sunday for you. Monday would turn out to be full of street art, city views, and even more walking and climbing than before. More on that tomorrow!
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