Last week, I told you about the first day of my trip to South Korea, and now, here’s what I did on Day 2!
On the second day, I went to visit the palaces of the old loyalties of ancient Korea. Even though now South Korea is a democratic country, long time ago it had an emperor who controlled everything and the emperor and his family all lived in big palaces.
There are 4 main areas where the palaces are, and in each area are many small palaces. Each one is for a different purpose and they are all in different places, so if you want to go to all of them, you have to transfer subways a few times.
Because I didn’t have enough time, and from what I know it is unnecessary to go to all of them, I only went to the biggest palaces.
The first one I went is called Gyongbokkung, and the entrance fee was 3,000 won when I went there, which is about $3.10. I took subway #3 or you can take the tour bus of Seoul to get there as well. Just don’t go to Gyongbokkung on Tuesdays, because it will be closed!
This is one of the palaces in Gyongbokkung, and it was used for the emperor to meet with his chancellors every morning.
This is a look of the inside.
Same as in China, ancient Koreans believed the dragon is a symbol of loyalty.
This is the inside of a guest house which is not as fancy as the main palace.
This pile of stones is what they called, “The General Cemetery,” and the blocks of wood with writing on them are what Koreans used to remember famous generals that saved the nation.
After visiting all of the palaces in Gyongbokkung, I went to the National Folk Museum which is in Gyongbokkung as well. The museum was built in 1945 after WWII. It presented to the Korean culture before 1910, which is when the emperor dynasty ended.
This is just clothing of the ancient Koreans.
This is some old literature.
This is my day 2 of South Korea tour. Just to let everyone know, Gyongbokkung is really easy to find on the map because it is in the center of Seoul and is very close to the President’s house. To end, below is a picture of Cheongwadae (Blue House) which is same as the White House in the U.S.A.
