We started off at the Gyeonbokgung Palace which translates as the Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven.It was a hot day, but we still had a nice time just wandering around, taking pictures. It was first constructed in 1397, then reconstructed in 1867. Over the last few decades, Seoul has pretty much been completely rebuilt and modernized and this has been done very quickly. Walking into the Palace was completely different than anything else I've seen thus far and felt like walking into the past.
After the palace, Bobby brought us to an area he had stu
mbled upon on a previous trip to Gyengbokgung. We walked up through a neighborhood called Samcheong-dong until the atmosphere completely changed. Instead of the modern, simple apartment buildings common in Seoul, we were walking throu
gh a street of traditional Korean street. Apparently this area was one of the few that wasn't completely demolished during the Korean war. It was peacefully quiet, which is nearly shocking when you are used to the loud hustle and bustle of Seoul. We found ourselves whispering because it felt wrong to talk loudly.
On the walk back to the Subway, we passed the Cheonggyecheon Stream. This stream had been covered by a street for years until about five years ago when they decided to uncover it, fix it up, and it is now a really nice part of downtown Seoul.
So that was my day... we walked around for hours but I absolutely loved it. During this past week I did little more than work and sleep so it was nice to finally get to see some of the sites in Seoul.
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