Gyeongbokgung Palace

As we continue to get in as much sight seeing as possible before Kim and I start teaching, we visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  It is located in Jongno-gu and it can be reached by taking Line #3 to Gyeongbokgng Station.  The price of admission is 3,000 KRW.  While we enjoyed touring the palace, we will probably be coming back in the spring or fall so that we can experience it with more greenery.  

The Palace was originally constructed in 1395 by King Taejo.  It was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and reconstructed in 1868 during King Gojong reign's.  

The Changing of the Guard takes place every hour on the hour from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Kim and I did not know this but luckily we walked in at 11:59, right in time for it to start.    

We kind of look like the guards, don't we?

Once again, the mountains in Seoul were amazing, providing a stunning backdrop to the views in the Palace.

I was in awe of the symmetry of the buildings.  Every block of wood was perfectly aligned.

On the west wing of the palace, there is a huge garden area as well as a lake.  Trying to be artistic, I think I got some pretty cool pictures using the reflections from the water.  

Both Kim and I were pleasantly surprised by how colorful the temples were.  

There is also a museum located in the front of the palace that we toured afterwards.  This is a map of the entire palace.  

In the Gyeongbokgung subway station is the Seoul Metro Art Center.  The current exhibit was the winners of a local photography contest.  It was a pretty cool little spot to stumble upon.

It was about 2:30 PM when Kim and I finished up and we were kind of hungry.  We decided to stop off at Wangsimni Station off Line #5 on the way back to our apartment.  There is a shopping mall located at this station that has a supermarket and a movie theater that Kim and I have already visited a couple times.  They have an awesome food court that allows us each to get what we want instead of having to compromise on one place.  Kim went with Mexican.  I chose the sushi restaurant with the revolving belt.  If you have not been to one of these before, you sit at the counter and pick and choose the plates that you want.  The price is based on the color of the plate and if you look in the top left corner of the picture below, you will notice the price list.  

It 6:00 PM on Friday night right now and I think that are big plans for the evening are going out with Mr. Kim for dinner and that's about it.  Tomorrow, I am sure that we will find another area of Seoul to visit, but we have not decided on anything yet.  We have really been enjoying the sight seeing, but both of us are anxious to make some friends once we start teaching at Poly.