Day 2 in Seoul

Today (June 30, 2019) was supposed to be sunny, so I planned outdoor activities which included Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), National Folk Museum (국립민속박물관), and Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을). I also decided that after those we would come back and have a mid afternoon nap rather than an evening nap turned into sleep so we could go to the night markets!

For breakfast Hunter and Cody wanted a bakery type place, so we went to one nearby called Tous Les Jours. Unfortunately, when we got there it was closed and wasn't opening till 10am, so we had to find somewhere else to go. There was no wifi either and my data hasn't been working so it was a challenge to find somewhere new. Eventually, we decided to go to a place called Paris Baguette which was a similar chain.

Statue in front of the building we were going to eat at, but it was closed

There was a heavy police presence today. We think it was because Trump was here.

Police were stationed all over

After eating, which finished way later than I was hoping, we headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace and waited for the changing of the guard. Halfway through it, a Korean girl came up and asked us if she could give us a tour as she was a student volunteer practicing her English. We finished watching the guards and then began our tour. She was very adorable and her English was pretty good, although there were some interesting grammar things, but that happens in any language.

The palace entrance

there were many different sections in the palace area with lots of different gates - this is right inside the entrance

 
Looking back at the entrance from the inside

this was the entrance into the palace. It cost 3000 won to enter.

The roof of the entrance mentioned above

Here is the start of the changing of the guard

Some video from the ceremony

Each of these pillars has a name on it. You can also see the ground is rough to prevent slipping

Apparently, there was a cave-like structure under here

Inside the main palace

This area was an area for rest and play

The queens house

In some of the photos you can see mountains in the back, the queen wanted to go to the mountains but she wasn't allowed to leave the palace grounds, so the king made a small hill behind her house like a mountain to make her happy.

This was a wall surrounding the king's mother's house. It has symbols of longevity

A cool tree that has supports so the branches don't break

This is the library

After our tour it was already noon, so we needed to find food. Finding food is challenging, and to add to the challenge, we have to make sure it's something that Cody wants, not just Hunter and I. We went to this food court place, but most of the options were closed and nothing sounded outstanding. Hunter also needed to eat soon as his blood sugar was low. We eventually found a place with dumplings and walked to it from the palace grounds. It was quite delicious. Hunter and I ordered this soup with dumplings that cooks at the table and Cody just had plain dumplings. I think our order was much better!

 

The view across the restaurant

After lunch, we went to the Bukchon Hanok Village. We skipped over the folk museum as our tour was long and informative of the palace. The village was very picturesque. It was built on a hill so we walked to the top and then back down.

I found this very pretty house

Street art

Hunter and I pictures!

The N Seoul Tower is in the background

We headed back to our AirBnB after our morning of walking for a short nap. We picked up snacks along the way and I ended up with meat flavored Cheetos. I was getting pretty tired, so it was nice to rest my feet. We set alarms for 7pm, but apparently, I slept through them and Hunter didn't try hard enough to wake me up. I only woke up at 9:30 and both boys were sleeping. At 10 we all got up and headed to the night market at Dongdaemun. We didn't really know what we were doing so we just walked around and we didn't really get into the heart of the market I don't think. We did get these custard filled pancake balls that were very delicious while walking around. Eventually, Cody found a chicken wing place that we went to near the old city wall gate. It was tasty.

Delicious chicken wings

After eating we headed back to the apartment. I showered as I felt really sweaty and stinky from the day outside and went back to sleep.

Date: June 30, 2019