Had a nice sleep-in today, followed by a pretty good lunch at a chain called Udon 410.

The War Memorial of Korea was my only visit today, but a great one. A complex of art, plaques, displays, and tributes took all afternoon to see. 

Dinner was cookies and triangle kimbap.

Thought I would take a day off….LOL

That lasted about an hour. I can’t sit for too long as you know (Shannon) so out it was.

Settled for just not planning anything. I had to start somewhere, a temple is always safe.

This is called Jogyesa, a Korean buddhist temple. As you can see, its in the middle of town. The complex consists of buildings from all over Korea. I was lucky to see it during a chrysanthemum festival.

So, after spending a pleasant hour there, I just meandered off down the street. Most places were closed cause Monday.

Found this street that had literally hundreds of watch stores. The clock at the head of the street was broken lol.

Lunch was a good! egg salad sandwich.

This nice park led me to Chongmyo or Jongmyo shrine. Its the resting place for all the royal spirit tablets from the Joseon dynasty. It was very quiet there as it was a paid, timed entry tour only. No wandering around. World heritage!!

So I just wandered off again and found the CheonGyeCheon stream. It’s this flood control ditch that’s been made into a cool park, with art and everything.

After a coffee break, 

a tourist sign told me that Namsan Park was nearby. It’s a very nice park with a super touristy and completely fake “traditional” Hanok village. As in 1998 traditional. Froggy liked it; you know he loves that stuff.

So beautiful 

So on the way home we saw some more public art big surprise.

Dinner was these bun things made with pork, very yummy.

So that’s my exhausting day off.

Not really. It was cold and windy most of the day.

I still had a nice one, though. Some errands taken care of, the National Museum of Korea was beckoning me.

Quite new and very impressive, this place has a fantastic permanent collection. I learned a lot about Silla culture. There’s a super collection of Buddhist sculpture as well.

Outside the museum is a lovely park. All kinds of cute families enjoying a Sunday.

Just next to the park is the Hanegul Museum. Small but nice.

Dinner was (no joke) hot dog sushi from 7-11. It was better than it sounds.

Heres today’s pictures 

Here in Seoul. 

The hostel I’m at has…real….drip…. coffee. I made coffee today!  Hallelujah !

Spent the morning at Gyeongbokgung palace. Was lucky enough to get in on an english-language guided tour. This place was tragically destroyed several times over the years but is being rebuilt once again.

Admission was free to the nearby Folk Museum. Many other people knew of this so my visit was short. I may go back another day to see this excellent place. Really well put together.

Lunch was ramen on a cute shopping street.

After a short walk avoiding a demonstration  (100,000 in attendance!) I found my way across town to a temple.

Bongeunsa temple is very old, very nice.

Featured at the temple was a display of Bonsai. Beautiful!

I was delighted to also find a gathering of a different sort; an outdoor concert. The occasion was to promote reunification. This was a spectacular way to view cultural treasures. Over the next 2 hours I was treated to a selection of Italian opera (Il Trovatore), American showtunes (Phantom), and English classics (The Beatles). It wrapped up with a Korean national anthem sing-along complete with flag-waving!

Then a long metro ride home to street food and some tv.  All the news channels are full of the demonstration. It’s estimated that 10,000 police were there. I believe it.

Heres today’s pictures