SEOUL VACATION DIARY DAY #2

Hello! 

For the second day I had planned out a handful of culture and Korean traditions to show to my family. We started the day early and were out of our hotel room already around 9am. We took a taxi to Gwanghwamun square and went to visit the Gyeongbokgung palace first. I also planned to show them the Bukcheon Hanok village and Insa-dong, but we ended up skipping Insa-dong and spent the evening in Myengdong shopping. The weather was reaaally cold in the morning but eventually got a bit warmer in the afternoon. 

We didn't buy tickets inside because there was still a lot to see that day, so we just visited the free areas and then watched the royal guard changing ceremony that takes place right outside the gate. I'd only visited the palace once before, so the whole guard changing thing was new to me too. It was like a really strict routine of walking around in perfect formations, checking that all of them were properly dressed, et cetera. 

After the ceremony we headed to the Gwanghwamun square and under the ground where they have this small museum about King Sejong's life and achievements, cafe and a small gift shop. Even though I might not look like it, I'm a huge sucker for history (favorite subject at school, studied and read books like a crazy person) so it was really interesting. 

My favorite part was this wall where they had small pictures drawn by kids. The theme was "my dream". It was really cute to read them. They had drawn about dreams like "a professional football player", "singer", "president", "announcer", "Wife" et cetera. We then sat down at this small cafe / gift shop, had coffee, talked and bought some souvenirs for people back here in Finland. 

After the museum we headed to Bukcheon Hanok village to see old traditional Korean houses. It was something also I myself had wanted to do for almost a year but never had the time to. We never actually found the actual most popular road with a view of Namsan tower that all the pictures are taken from, but instead wandered around the tiny streets around the neighborhood. It was actually pretty nice to just walk, with no other tourists, in the middle of I don't even know where, with small traditional cafes here and there. It was absolutely beautiful. 

Afterwards, before heading back to Myeongdong we had lunch in this small Korean traditional restaurant, where you had to take off your shoes before entering. We ordered Bibimbap (the safest option when travelling with parents) and a seafood Pajeon.

In Myeongdong the rest of the evening was spent shopping (bought the most amazing new winter coat), walking around, sipping coffee and taking pictures. Especially Korean street food received lots of love from my family, hahah. Before returning back to the hotel we stopped at Paris Baquette to get something to eat and drink. Another food that was popular during this trip was "Kopan", a bread filled with sweet red bean paste and whipped cream kind of thing. 

The second day was crazy busy and long, but we also saw and did a lot. I had planned the next day destination to be Gangnam, so I could first show them the older Korea and then the next day take them to skyscraper jungle and show them the 2000's Korea. 

xx,

Julia