Korean National Treasures at Deoksugung Palace

There are quite a few interesting objects on display at Deoksugung Palace, and some of them are Korean National Treasures. Treasure number 29 is the Sacred Bell of King Seondeok the Great. Treasure number 229 is an ancient water clock. This clock is the oldest and largest surviving example of an automatic water clock.

The National Museum of Art at Deoksugung

The art museum does not hold a permanent collection of art, rather the curator brings in exhibits from around the world to display there. The curator has a reputation for bringing in excellent collections. We were lucky enough to visit the museum while the collection of Fernando Botero, an artist and sculptor from South America, was being shown. Botero is known for his larger-than-life paintings and statues of large-sized people and animals, as you can see by his cat statue that sat in front of the museum when we visited.

The Garden at Deoksugung Palace

It was a lovely afternoon when we visited Deoksugung Palace and strolled through the garden there. The fountain is unusual because it goes against Korean beliefs that since water flows downhill, a waterfall, not a fountain, should be built in a manmade garden. We loved the otters spouting water around the main fountain!

Deoksugung Palace

There are 5 palace compounds in Seoul, and our Korean guidebook said if you could only visit one it should be the Changdeokgung Palace. You can tell from my earlier posts how much we enjoyed Changdeokgung, but our trip to Deoksugung Palace was just terrific! We liked the fact that we could just wander about the palace grounds versus the guided tour at Changdeokgung. There is also a beautiful garden at Deoksugung, a display of some of the National Treasures of Korea, an art exhibition, and a musical changing of the guard three times a day (more about all of these later). If you ever get a chance to go to Korea, I would put the Deoksugung Palace on my "Must-See" list!

Cruising on the Han River in Seoul

After visiting the 63 Building during the day, we decided to take an evening cruise on the Han River. The cruise lasted about 2 hours, and it was nice to sit and watch the scenery of Seoul pass by. One of the bridges that we passed under had an awesome light show as we approached. Then as we floated under the bridge, a shower of water sprayed over us! I was lucky enough to stay dry.

Shopping at Dongdaemun

Korea has to be one of the most amazing places in the world to shop. Everywhere we went there was a variety of above ground and underground shopping (usually at the train stations). We shopped in Dongducheon, Uijengbu, Itaewan, and various places in Seoul. One of the best places we shopped was at Dongdaemun. There are both above ground shopping and underground shopping at Dongdaemun. In fact, there are 26 malls with over 30,000 shops from over 50,000 manufacturers. One of the large stores that we visited had a whole floor of nothing but buttons. It boggles the mind!

Observatory and Art Exhibit at the 63 Building

We went to the art exhibition and the observatory at the 63 Building. The exhibit was called "In the Flower Garden," and it was lovely. There was a bridge in one of the paintings, and a little bridge was built in front where you could take pictures. Another sections had glass, mirrors, and metallic leaves that made an interesting effect. The views of Seoul from the observatory were awesome!

Seaworld at the 63 Building in Seoul

The indoor Seaworld at the 63 Building is great. There is such a variety of salt water and fresh water life and fun, interactive performances. We saw a new (for us) fish called "Doctor Fish" that come up and nibble on the dead skin on your fingers. That was a funny feeling, to say the least! Our all-time favorites were the penguins though. There was a tank where they could swim past, and you are allowed to pet them. We had never been able to do that before, so that was quite an experience as well.

63 Building Wax Museum

You can buy tickets to the exhibits at the 63 building in bundles of three events. We didn't choose the wax museum, but we enjoyed taking pictures with the figures out front. My shot with Tiger Woods turned out too fuzzy, but here's my DD with Leonardo DiCaprio and my SIL with Einstein. E=MC(2).

63 Building

The 63 Building in Seoul was obviously named for its 63 stories. This building houses an amazing array of activities. There is a Seaworld, yes an indoor Seaworld, a wax museum, an art gallery, an observation deck, and a floor filled with a food court and various other restaurants. We spent the whole day there and loved it!

Leaving the Palace

We walked through the gates and past the men's and women's quarters to leave the Changdeokgung Palace compound. As you can see from my previous posts, this tour is quite extensive, and it's all packed in to an hour and a half. Tomorrow we are off to a new and exciting spot to visit in Seoul. Don't miss it!

Relaxing in the Secret Garden

This pavillion was used by the royal family when they were relaxing and hanging out in the Secret Garden. What a nice way that must have been to spend the day!

Juhamnu Pavillion

This lovely pavillion was used as the king's royal library. Built in the Secret Garden on the lotus pond, the pavillion was a peaceful place to ponder the heavens and the earth.

Huijeongdang and Daejojeon Halls

These are the king's (photo on the left) and queen's (photo on the right) residence halls. They were both destroyed by fire and restored in 1917 with Western influences in their bedchambers. I wasn't surprised to find out that the king was allowed to visit in the queen's residence, but the queen was not allowed to visit in the king's residence. That old double standard!

Seonjeongjeon Hall

This is the hall where the king met daily with his ministers. It is the only building in the palace complex with a blue tiled roof that symbolizes the king's administrative offices. It is a true blue in person, but it looks more like gray in my picture. As in all of the buildings at Changdeokgung, I was amazed at the intricacies in the carvings and the details of the colors. Beautiful!

Injeongjeon Hall

This hall is on the list of Korean National Treasures. Major state affairs and coronations of kings took place here. It was also called the "Throne Hall" as this was where the king sat on his throne. This hall has been restored twice, once after the Japanese invasion of 1592 (they must have destroyed everything in Seoul) and after it burned down in 1804. It's impressive.

Geumcheong yo Bridge

This small bridge takes you from the Donhwamun Gate to the palace compound. It was build in 1411, and it is the oldest bridge still being used in Seoul. I was captivated by the stone animal statues on the 4 corner pillars of the bridge. They are all supposed to have different expressions on their faces. How cute is that?

Donhwamun Gate

This gate is the largest of all the palace gates of five palaces that were built Seoul. It is so beautiful with its array of colors and designs. Only the king was allowed to use all of these colors on his buildings. It was strictly set out what colors that persons of each rank were allowed to use, all the way down to the commoners who did not use colors at all on their homes and buildings. The gate was built in 1412, but was destroyed by a Japanese invasion in 1592. It was restored in 1608. You've got to see the pictures to believe it!

Changdeokgung Palace

The Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul is so impressive that I am going to break my posts down into the separate parts of the palace. Tours of the palace are offered daily in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. We were amazed at the size of the English tour on a Tuesday afternoon, as you can see from the picture. Maybe it's because this palace was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as ". . . an outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design." Don't you just love the restrooms there? You've already seen the Secret Garden that is located at the rear of the palace compound. So. . . more tomorrow.

The Secret Garden in Seoul

The "Secret Garden" in Seoul was the first spot that Krystle and I wanted to see. We had both loved the book, which I always read to my 5th and 6th grade classes and got to enjoy myself each year. The garden, called Biwon, is behind the Changdeokgun Palace in Seoul. It was called a "secret," or forbidden, garden, because no one was allowed to enter without permission of the king. It was originally a resting area for the king and his family. The Zen for heaven and earth is that the heavens are round, and the earth is square. This is represented in the Secret Garden with a square lotus pond which represents the earth, and around it are a variety of flowers, plants, and trees which represent the heavens. The tree shown is over 750 years old. The garden is kept as natural as possible and left untouched by human hands when possible. It is just the most incredibly beautiful and relaxing spot in the world.

Dongducheon

My DD and SIL live in Dongducheon, Korea so their apartment was our home base for all of our expeditions. Krystle and I sat down on my first day there and made a list of all of the amazing sights that we wanted to visit in and around Seoul. Believe me, the list was quite long, but we stuck to it. We were only rained out of one of our intended trips, so that was really lucky for us. Actually it was a 6 mile hike up Dobongsan Mountain, and I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to make it, so I guess that worked out for the best. I'm still new at this Blog stuff, so I haven't figured out how to write captions for my pictures (coming soon, I promise), but the pictures in the previous posts were taken from the front window of Eric and Krystle's apartment.

Welcome to Korea

I am getting started with this blog after watching the movie "Julie and Julia." I had the great good fortune to visit my darling daughter, Krystle (DD) and son-in-law, Eric (SIL) this summer for 3 whole weeks. It was fantastic, awesome, great, grand, magnificent, well I could go on and on, but you get the point. In fact, it was so wonderful that I decided to blog about it and share some of my pictures and reminisces with you. Okay, that sounds boring, but I promise you, it's not going to be. You're going to love it. And I predict that you won't be satisfied until you experience the joy of visiting Korea yourself.

Korean Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope comes from three Greek words meaning beautiful, shape, and to look at. This describes my blog perfectly. I'm going to write about the beautful shapes, sights, and scenes that I looked at during my visit to Korea.