Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Things that took my breath away

Monday February 11th (Glynis’ dictation)

Today is a day of sightseeing. We have seen temples, shrines, palaces, and even the Mayors house! Insadong is where you will find all of these amazing things! The first place we went to was Jongmyo Shrine. It was very beautiful and the snow was still on the ground which made it even more picturesque. We saw groups of men gathered together and we were baffled to what was going on. As we got closer we saw that they were playing chess, in 20 degree weather!

After this we went to see Unhyeongung Palace, this was a small compound that was in traditional Korean style. We got to see inside where the soldiers and staff lived it was very interesting.

We then found our way to the street market where the little cobble roads were full of venders .It was so much fun to meander along and listen to local entertainers, we even saw a cute little elderly man dancing to his own radio! We had lunch at a small restaurant (no one speaks English so you have to guess what’s in your meal or go by the pictures) and I tried chicken dumpling soup, I’m getting hooked on the soups here especially the dumpling soups. I’m definitely going to try and make some soup while I’m here, see what I can do .It seems that this trip is definitely about food as was proven by right after lunch we tried several types of “street” food! More about this on my next blog devoted especially to food.

We then walked out of the market area and to my amazement there were the mountains right in front of us. What a beautiful backdrop to Gyeongbukgung Palace. This magnificent structure with its Korean style was breath taking. As we approached we saw soldiers lined up in traditional attire so we ran to see what was happening. To our delight and good fortune we got there just in time for the changing of the guard!




As this happens only once a day we were truly blessed by the beautiful traditional spectacle before us! On our way out of the palace grounds we saw two beautiful little girls in Hanboks (traditional dress) all dressed up for New Years. I had to have my picture taken with them…so cute! (picture at top of blog)

The last place we saw was the Mayors house and yet again the magnificence of the mountains took my breath away. (Also the single digit weather may have added to this) We were all exhausted so it was time to go home after a truly memorable day.

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