I thought this architecture was so elegant.
Love that golden light.
A miscellaneous shop.
We found an arcade but didn’t buy anything.
I thought this house was interesting.
Love the socks. Note the split so you can wear geta or zori (sandals).
This guy was playing an organ grinder, but no monkey in sight. I’m glad he was under an umbrella.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
This looks to be some kind of general store.
The were a LOT of chopstick stores.
Several shops had these drapes? Banners? That date kind of blew my mind. Our country is so young.
I grew to like these drapes a lot.
I’m pretty sure this is a candy and nut shop.
An adorable young couple allowed me to take a photo of their cute “couple shoes.” That’s kind of a thing in Korea and Japan.
Of course we had to have ramen in Japan. I had the Kyoto ramen. It was great.
The white camellias were so beautiful.
Yup, that’s Gucci.
I though this little blue car was so cute. It’s actually a Suzuki Alto Lapin. Lapin is French for “rabbit.”
Part III next week.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
I LOVED Kyoto. It was such a mix of modern and old-world charm.
This flower shop, Mille Fleur, was across the street from our hotel.
And speaking of our hotel, it was so cool!
This is the lobby.
This is the restaurant/bar area. I wish I’d taken pics of my room because it was very cool too.
A typical alley in Kyoto. Although we encountered rain, it wasn’t a problem for us. At least it wasn’t a downpour.
I loved the bikes in Kyoto. So cute.
Another beautiful alley.
I had never seen architecture like this before.
I thought this beauty salon was so lovely.
Not sure what this building is, but it’s beautiful.
I love the lighting here.
We saw goldfish a lot. Or are they Koi?
Pansies.
There were so many pretty shops in Kyoto.
I love the way they displayed this restaurant. They even have an English menu. We didn’t have a problem ordering food in Japan. Sometimes we had to point to a photo, but not very often.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
I didn’t know that Seoul had two airports. I flew into Incheon from the U.S., but we flew to Japan from Gimpo.
What I ate:
Yes, that is a hot dog and yes, that is asparagus. The bun was really sweet and I think that was Parmesan cheese on top. It was actually…good! It helped that I was really hungry.
I love trying new foods.
{carole}
This guy was amazing. He was doing like ten sandwiches at a time. And they were delicious.
Anyone heard of Starbucks Reserve Roastery? I hadn’t heard of it, but it’s definitely a cut above a “regular” Starbucks. I loved the mural at this one.
The fare was a cut above too.
It all looked so yummy. They have locations in Seattle, of course, and Chicago and New York City.
We passed by this cute restaurant on the way to one of the palaces.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
The N Seoul Tower, officially the YTN Seoul Tower and commonly known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower, is a communication and observation tower located on Namsan Mountain in central Seoul, South Korea. The 784 ft. (236m.) tower marks the second highest point in Seoul and is considered a local landmark. Construction started in 1969 and it opened October 15, 1980.
I must apologize for the quality of this photo. I was in a crosswalk with minutes to spare. We could see the tower from our hotel, but I never thought to take a photo! Believe me when I say we were always on the run.
We saw the “Locks of Love” on our way up. There were thousands.
We were lucky enough to arrive when they were changing the guard.
The Royal Guard Changing Ceremony has been re-enacted in front of these gates since 1996, providing visitors with an opportunity to experience royal culture.
A gazebo in now-familiar colors and design.
A view of downtown Seoul.
Pansies, Dusty Miller, Daisies and Lupines.
More pansies.
I was very surprised to see the Seoul City Wall from the Joseon Dynasty.
Signal fire mounds, a part of their defense system, were first established in 1394 (!) and remained in operation until 1894. Signals sent across the country from one mound to another, using smoke by day and fire at night, were received by the beacon at the top of Namsan and conveyed to the Royal Palace.
During the Colonial era of Joseon under the Japanese Empire, significant parts of the wall were demolished by the Japanese colonial government to modernize the cityscape of Seoul.
Finally, Namsan Tower at night. We had to catch our plane to Japan so didn’t see it in the evening. (Google photo)
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
After lunch at an incredible chicken place called BHC which we have in San Diego (!) we stumbled upon this temple, so decided to check it out.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the outside, so this Google image will have to suffice.
Bongeunsa Temple in Gangnam, Seoul, was first established in 794 A.D. by the monk, Yeonhoei. Originally, it was called Gyeongseongsa Temple. In 1498, under Queen Jeonghyeon (1462-1530), the temple was renovated and renamed Bongeunsa Temple.
A giant Buddha that stands 75 feet (23 m.) tall. This statue is called Mireuk-bul (The Future Buddha). During the Joseon Dynasty, Buddhism in Korea was suppressed. Bongeunsa means the act of honoring the king.
I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a protocol for temples and palaces to follow with respect to colors and design.
A closer look.
There were a lot of statues….
If you look at the Buddha photo you’ll see that they have probably thousands of smaller statues.
And a painting.
I’m fairly certain those are Kwanzan cherry blossoms. They were just opening.
Finally, they had colorful lanterns to which people could attach wishes. It was so beautiful.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate!
{carole}
Changdeokgung was originally built in 1405 as a secondary palace, but when Gyeongbokgung (Seoul’s principal palace) was destroyed during the Japanese invasion in the 1590s, it became the primary royal residence until 1872. It remained in use well into the 20th century. Like most Joseon palaces, it has a mountain behind it and a small stream in front which means good pungsu (feng shui).
I was kind of underwhelmed by this palace. Maybe because Gyeongbokgung Palace was so festive? I was also pretty tired after looking at two palaces and a temple. We did a lot of walking on this trip; one day it was 24,000 steps.
It is a World Heritage Site, though. I noticed the spelling was different on this sign. Everywhere I looked it was the spelling in the title of this blog.
The colors and design were very similar to Gyeongbokgung Palace. There were a lot of buildings on the palace grounds.
More details.
Front view.
At first I thought these were faces, but they’re just designs.
There were a lot of wide open spaces. The palace grounds were huge.
I believe these are living quarters but I’m not sure. We should have probably hired a guide, but we were pretty palaced out by the time we got here.
I did like the doorways.
Especially this one.
Lots of brick walls.
Finally, some azaleas that were blooming. This was the end of March so it was pretty early for them. They’re much more sparse than the ones in the U.S.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
We decided to visit Olympic Park, but it was kind of a bust.
I don’t remember the Summer Olympics being in Seoul at all. But The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) boycotted and was joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. South Korea then embraced democracy.
This is the giant thumb seen in the background of the photo above. French sculptor Cesar Baldaccini created it. This is one of the only seven large thumb statues existing in the world today. Another one is in La Défense area of Paris. It is 16.4 ft tall (5 meters).
We then stumbled upon the “Gangnam Style” statue. “Gangnam Style” was a huge hit by PSY back in 2012. In the video PSY holds his hands like this.
Next up, Lotte Tower.
Lotte Tower is a 123-story tower that is 1821 ft. (555 m.) high. To go up you have to first enter a luxurious mall.
Bvlgari had a very interesting display that you could walk through.
I thought this cafe was really cute.
Even the waiting area to go up in the elevator was beautiful with this decorative ceiling.
The views were pretty incredible. This is the Han River. I don’t know if the green stuff is Astroturf or what. Please excuse the streaks on the window.
The blue stuff is for new construction. We saw that at ground level. My son and his friend were reminded of an old game called Sim City.
Sim City game (Google image)
Seoul has mountains around it, which surprised me.
Can you imagine working on this tower? I cannot. Gives me vertigo just looking at those guys.
Of course they had a glass floor. I have acrophobia, so didn’t even attempt it.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 