Ever on the hunt for interesting, cultural places to go, we felt that Gyeongbokgung was a good way to go. Easy enough to get to, and pretty impressive visually, we headed over to take a look.
Again, it was freezing cold, so much so that large parts of the bodies of water dotted around the palace grounds had thin sheets of ice dotted around, and the ground was frosty. But the sky was crystal clear and the sun was shining, so once again it was a really good trip out.
I'd already taken a lot of photos of the palace itself, so I'll just post a few.
The cold prevented us from lingering very long, and the kimchi house was locked up (presumably because of the weather or season) so we kept moving and left to get a look at the Statue of King Sejong and a brief visit to the museum underneath, with the pretense of warming up my numb feet.
Actually, I really enjoyed the Hangeul Museum, and I'd been wanting to go for a while. I think hangeul is such an impressive writing system, and I can understand why Koreans are so proud of it.
The museum was full of various educational displays about the writing system's history, conception, development, and various uses in the past and present. There were also some interesting displays regarding a few of King Sejong's other inventions, as well as some hangeul-based fashion and artwork from university students of art and design.
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| 앙부일구 literally: "upward-looking kettle that catches the shadow of the sun" |
We finished up at a hanok-style restaurant next to Ssamjigil and had some really excellent...something. It reminded me of a mix between bulgogi and jjimdalk with some tteok thrown in for good measure. With a bottle of makgeolli to share between us, it was really hearty and filling after a cold day's exploring.
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