Day 4: Gwanghwamun Square, Gyeongbokgung & Changdeokgung Palaces and Myeongdong

Today we went to visit 2 of the 5 palaces in Seoul.

It was really hot today in Seoul. Lucky I put on some sunscreen.

But still, didn't expect that it will be that hot here in Seoul for this time of year.

We took the subway line 5 to Gwanghwamun.

At the exit we saw a big billboard of the Korean Dramaserie Iris.

~ Chris & Lee Byun- Heon in Action ~ 

 ~Also we saw the Korean Mascot Haechi ~

Outside we walk through Gwanghwamun Square. 

At the left side we saw Sejong Center of the Performing Arts.

There is a musical of the Korean Dramaserie 'You're Beautiful' playing now.

~Lilia and on the background Sejong Center of the Performing Arts ~

There is a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin. He became famous of his victories against Japanese navy through the invasion of Japan in 1592-1598. 

~ Lilia and Admiral Yi Sun-sin Statue ~

Behind the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, there is a statue of King Sejong the Great (1397-1450). The Fourth King of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea. He invented the Korean Alphabet (Hangul).

 ~Chris and King Sejong the Great ~

At the end of the Gwanghwamun Square, we see the Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The admission is 3000 won. Six times a day  you can see the Ceremony of Gate Guard Change. We were already inside when it happened at the front of the Palace.

~ Chris in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace ~

 ~ Lilia inside the Gyeongbokgung Palace ~

 This is how the palace looked like now and in the past.

We got the chance to go inside in some rooms. But we had to take out off our shoes.

~ Lilia kneeling down in one of the rooms in the Palace. ~

 ~ Chris also kneels down in one of the rooms in the Palace. ~

We made a lot of pictures inside the palace. I can't show them right now. 

Maybe I will post it later on Facebook.

The picture below is Gyeonghoeru Pavilion where the king threw formal banquet for foreign envoys.

 ~Lilia and the beautiful Gyeonghoeru Pavilion ~

Inside the area of Gyeongbokgung Palace, 

you can also visit the National Folk Museum for free.

There are three galleries.

- History of the Korean People

- Korean Way of Life

- Korean Life Passage

There is also a children museum. We saw a lot of little children on a schooltrip to the museum.

It is forbidden to take pictures, so I don't have any pictures of the galleries.

 ~ Lilia in front of the National Folk Museum of Korea ~

After the museum we wanted to go to Changgyeonggung Palace, but on the map it looks so close. Only to find out that we had to walk quite a distance + we walked the other way to find out that the ticket services is on the other end XD

So we walked back, deciding if we wanted to go inside. But  we have walked all the way, so we decided to go inside. When you want to see Changgyeonggung Palace, you have to go through the Changdeokgung Palace, The admission price is also 3000 won for regular tour, but 8.000 for the palace + Secret Garden tour. Because there is only a secret garden tour in english two times a day.. 10.30 and 15.30. We missed the 10.30 and it was 14.00 when we arrived. So we decided to take the regular tour. 

~Lilia, In front of Changdeokgung Palace ~

The Area of Changdeokgung Palace is so big, that we still had a chance to take part of the Secret Garden tour: 15.30-17.00 ^^

~ The Sign of the Secret Garden ~

 Secret Garden was a forbidden place for the recreational area and retreat for the Royal Family. Its a place where the king composed poetry, a setting for comtemplation, a venue for banquets and as an archery range. The Royal Family enjoyed fishing and boating on the pond and fireworks was sometimes displayed here. The king and queen of the Joseon Dynasty also engaged farming and raised silkworms in this garden.

~ On of the 'house' in the Secret Garden ~

We got 10 minutes the time to explore the area of the secret garden.

 

 ~ Lilia inside a house ~

~Chris Relaxing at the House ~

~A shadow picture of us ~

~ Picture of us, together in the Sunny Weather of Seoul ~

~ Our English Tourguide tellling us about the King and Queen farming here. ~

After that place we had to hike up a hill, when we finally got there we saw a place where they also rest after they walked up the hill.

~ Chris and the resting place after the hike ~

The Secret Garden tour ended 1,5 hours later. We were so tired.. so we slowly walked back to the entrance of the palace and walked to the subway station. We decided to go to Kyobo Bookstore to eat dinner. We choose to eat Italian at Kyobo Bookstore's Melody Foodcourt again. After dinner we ate Baskin Robbins Ice Cream.

 ~Chris and Baskin Robbins Rainbow Sorbet and Blueberry Cheescake. ~

After that we went to Meyongdong again. It really crowded in the afternoon. A lot of people comes here to eat and shopping. There are also a lot of vendors selling stuff. Also fake korean drama series. Everywhere you walk you only hear 'Gangnam Style' yes, it still is a popular song here. Yeah, we.. I mean I (Lilia) wanted to go shopping :P

~ Lilia with Yonghwa of CN Blue ~

I wanted to try Tteobokki/ Ddeokbokgi, I saw in Running Man, that they always eat that + its a popular street dish in Korea....but it was really really really spicy XD

~ Lilia and the Superspicy Popular Korean Street Dish ~

It was an interesting day today. Its fascinating to learn about the history of Korea and to see the two palaces for real. Its late, so I didnt upload a lot of photos of the Palaces.

If you want to know more here is a website: http://www.royalpalace.go.kr/html/eng/main/main.jsp

where you can look at.

Goodnight for now. Tomorrow we will go on the Winter Sonata Tour.

LC & CL