Our second day in Seoul was a whirlwind of a day! We went to Dongdaemun, Seoul Tower, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Cheonggyrcheon, and then to another area to watch the Lotus Latern Parade. And yes, i had to look up most of those names from my map.
Dongdaemun
This place is the fashion center. There is a whole street devoted to selling textiles. There is one store we went in that is 5 stories and a labyrinth of textiles, zippers, buttons, jewels, and many other things that require the creating of any sort of clothing or linen. On the 3rd or 4th floor there are hundreds of booths that you can purchase many different beads, chains, feathers, charms and any other kind supply to get your craft on. You can also purchase handmade jewelry there for super cheap. Also any sort of head band or hair pin. Koreans LOVE giant ridiculous bows and what not for their hair. I ended up getting some supplies to make some earrings for my boss for her birthday (which she enjoyed! yay!). I also got some more supplies for earrings for myself. Its crazy and a little overwhelming in this place. but pretty fun! I could have a field day given enough time and enough money. So thank God we had many other things to do this day! Heres a glimpse of what the place looked like (disclaimer: these 2 photos are not my photos, they are a friend of mine's):
Can you find the person?
Seoul Tower:
Seoul Tower is near Myeong- dong. You have to walk up a hill to a cable car that takes you even higher up the hill. You could hike to the top, but none of us felt like doing that. its a good hike. So we jumped on the cable car and went up to the Tower. There is a large area around the tower. There is a burger joint, Cold Stones, teddy bear store, and a gift shop. There is an area where they will sometimes do live performances. There is also this guy:
This guy is kinda like Seoul's mascot.
They have these love lock trees. Couples come here, buy a lock, write something on it, put it on the tree and throw away the key! I caught a couple in action.
Koreans love anything coupley.
Seoul Tower.
Now we take a super fast elevator all the way to the top. In the elevator they play a movie on the ceiling that shows us going so high that we are actually in outer space. pretty awesome!
They have these stickers that say what city is in the direction you are looking and how far away it is. I found something close to home ;)
They say the tower has the best view in all the world. The men's bathroom is better, cuz they actually gets to stare out the window while they go. ha!
Oh, the girl on the left is Jamie (we stayer at her place) and the other is Breann. She lives in Ulsan with me!
go TOMS!
We came from down there!
and then we take the cable car back down!
Gyeongbokgung Palace:
So this Palace is kinda a big deal and a tourist/ young family mecca. The Breann and Katie both know about the palace because they have been teaching their kids about it. However, i teach kindergarten so i had know idea what this place really is. I still havent done much research, so bare with me. Its super important and is rich in history. The palace was built in the late 1300s. They kept adding structures to the area as time went on. Some of it was destroyed in the Korean war in 1951, but they rebuilt it. So, the entire area is acres large and has building after building. Some buildings are for worship and some are for living, one for the king, one for the queen. Heres a map to show you the size of this place:
You enter up there ^ and if you walk straight to the back you will find the "Blue House"which is where the Korean president lives. Like the White House, but it is called the Blue House because it has a blue roof:
But before you get into the palace you have to pass these armed guards:
i was scared to get close, he had a giant sword right next to me! I thought i would be serious like him, but i guess i should have smiled, more ironic.
Here are some photos of the palace. I dont know which one is which or what the customary things are so just enjoy the beauty and impeccable details the the different buildings have to offer.
these little guys are on almost every building. on every corner. Im thinking they may be gardians??
outside
inside
inside a different place
grrrrr?
Now to
Cheonggyrcheon
I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce this. Your guess is as good as mine. This is an area where Korea built a place for the river to flow through town. There is the road on either side of the river, but the river is built down a story. So you forget that you are in the middle of the road. You could Wikipedia this area and im sure you would learn a great deal more than i can share with you. There were a ton of different lanterns and art around for Buddah's birthday, which is a big deal here. So again, enjoy the beauty and fun!
We had a break and had CPK! Boy was i excited! I wanted everything from the menu! After that we ventured to the Lotus Lantern Parade. We heard the parade was 2 and a half hours. We only stayed for about an hour and half. It reminded me of the Rose Bowl Parade, except instead of flower floats they had huge sculptures that lit up! Here are some photos:
I have many other photos, but i must go to bed now.
more to come soon!
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