Seoul Day 2: Gyengbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung Palace, Dinner in Insadong

Ned woke up bright and early Saturday morning...at 4:00 a.m. What can I say, we got an early start on the day. :) We decided to make use of the beautiful day by seeing some of the palaces. We made more use of our hotel's shuttle ('tram', as Nedy calls it) and rode to Insadong at 8:00, a good starting point for our walking tour. Nedy has a special seat right up front on the 'tram'--and she is obsessed with the fact that there are no seat belts. "But Mama, dis is sooooo dangawous!" Yep, we're livin' on the edge here in Korea.
Our first destination was Gyeonbokgung Palace, considered the most prominent of Seoul's places because of its downtown location. (It is always an interesting/juxtapositional (is that a word?) experience to visit these old palaces and see the skyscrapers surrounding the preserved history.) Anyway, like most palaces in Korea, this one has gorgeous architectural details, but the buildings are mostly empty because the furnishings and artwork were stripped during the Japanese colonial era. I am always amazed by the detail work of these palaces; mostly that they can maintain them so beautifully.
Josiah is my budding photographer buddy. He's been watching me and asking questions...and burning up Lisa's only memory card. I love seeing him curl up on the ground to get just the right angle. Boy after my own heart.So, as is the case with every single trip we've taken to Asia to date, Dan got stopped on our way out of the palace by a group of students doing a school project aimed at practicing English. They asked all the usual questions: Where are you from? Why did you come to Korea? What do you like about Korea?
One of the girls was dressed in her Taekwondo uniform. When she found out Josiah also practiced Taekwondo, she showed him her form. Not to be outdone, Josiah put on his bravery suit and got right in the mix to perform his own form for the group. They all clapped and cheered. And Josiah was just beaming. Awesome. It was one of those experiences that I'll never forget--a moment of real connection for him.
From the palace, we walked to an area called Bukchon. This neighborhood is just fantastic. It's a collection of tight, winding alleyways lined with traditional Korean tile-roof homes built in the early 20th century. The homes are packed so closely together that when you look at them from above, it's just a sea of black tile. Gorgeous.
The organization of materials in traditional Korean building is magnificent. Dan was all ga-ga over this and somehow I can see it incorporated into our addition plans...
Dan is smitten with this area. Can you tell? :)
How cool are the manhole covers? Love it.
Next stop on our walking tour was Changdeokgung Palace. While Gyeongbokgung is the largest palace in Seoul, but many think Changdeokgung is the most beautiful. I agree. This place is a photographer's dream. For real.
I really could spend an entire day photographing the details here. Amazing.

By this time, we were getting a bit hungry and decided to walk back to Insadong for dinner at one of the alley restaurants before Nedy filled up on chocolate filled cookies.
We chose a restaurant called Salt. Dan has no idea what he ordered, but he sure enjoyed it.
The thing about eating at alley restaurants is that there aren't any forks. Josiah and Ned had a great time trying to teach Aunt Lisa how to be proficient with chopsticks. Notice Ned's chopsticks in the air in demonstration form. I can still hear Ned in my head, "No Aunt Yisa, yike dis! YIKE DIS!!!"
Good food, good times.
And then after a brief dip in the pool, it was off to bed for us. Just one more day until we meet Kamron!