Palace Day

Today, Monday, we left on a palace adventure. We began the day with SC going to the Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁). It was a beautiful day for an outdoor activity like this. We had initially planned to see a couple of castles, but after seeing this huge spectacular castle for a couple hours, we decided we'd seen enough for this trip. I noticed a small speck on some of my recent photos, so I tried to wipe off the lens today with my handkerchief. I made it MUCH worse, some of these photos may have a blurry spot. Mrs. Stumbler just cleaned it properly with some tissues, so hopefully tomorrows shots will be clearer.

A Beautiful Day at Gyeongbokgung 

Spectacular Ceiling Details 

Sundial - Solar Time 10:45, Clock Time 11:05 

The "Most Beautiful Chimney" of the Joseon Dynasty 

Part of the Gyeongbokgung complex includes a nice Korean National Folklore Museum. Initially, I said to myself - "Oh no, not another Folk Museum". But this one was quite nice. I saw some new and interesting things, and had a good time. This one was busy with elementary school students, all of them carrying notebooks and clipboards. Mrs. Stumbler says the teacher gives them an assignment before arriving at the museum, and they have to answer questions as they tour the exhibits. She says this is necessary for this age group, to keep them "on the task". They seemed to be having a good time, and actually seemed to be enjoying themselves more than some of the high school students I saw wandering around in some other museum this trip.

The Stumbler - I'm a Tiger 

YS#4 - She's a Dragon 

After touring the Palace, the grounds, and the museum, we headed off for some western lunch (for some reason the Stumbling Family never votes for Korean meals....) We went to this Pizza Hut, and had some delicious barbecue chicken pizza on my favorite cheese crust.

Lunch At Pizza Hut 

After lunch, SC suggested we visit the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo-gu, which has a nice park. What he didn't tell us was that the park is located atop of a mountain at about 10,000 feet elevation, or 3000 meters for my Korea friends (well, that's a slight exaggeration). We headed up this super long, winding walking path. We made it to the "top", although not quite to the park itself, and decided to wimp out and head down the stairs. Many, many, many stairs.

SC and YS#4 on the Mountain 

Seoul World Cup Stadium 

Bridge Over the River Han 

Down, Down, Down the Stairs 

Tonight the movie was #4 in the series, "Revenge of the Pink Panther", and I made some special popcorn by mixing taco seasoning with the popcorn - delicious. Tomorrow we're off to Daebu-do for some seafood.