Thursday, July 29, 2010
I decided to walk into downtown Seoul today to visit Deoksugung, the Palace of Virtuous Longevity. Taxi’s are really inexpensive in Seoul but I prefer walking a city as you get to see more and may make some fun discoveries. (One thing to note about taxi’s is drivers rarely speak English so it is best to have someone write down in Korean where you are going and have a business card from your hotel to show them for the return ride.) We are staying next to Namsan Park so I walked along the park which has beautiful flower gardens and then down into the city. There are few street signs in Seoul (plus I can’t read Korean anyway) so the best way to navigate Seoul is by landmarks and major signs which are in both English and Korean. I was a little worried I would get lost but it actually was easy. When I arrived at the palace they were filming and there were all these people gathered around taking pictures of an actress (I have no idea who it is). The major reason I wanted to see the palace was the changing of the guards and the guidebook said it was at 10:30 but I nothing happened. It turned out it was at 11:30, luckily I didn’t miss it.
According to the map the walk looked about 2 miles each way but I think it was longer it seemed to take me forever! It is so humid here that by the time I got home I was absolutely drenched. Seoul is also very hilly, so the humidity combined with the hills and carrying camera gear I was also pretty tired when I got back to the hotel.
by Jennifer Stone
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