Palace gardens, Pizza Hut & personal computers

Sunday was a very exciting day indeed! After a crazy Friday & a lazy Saturday, we were ready for some culture!

I've been reading 'Lonely Planet's' South Korean guide book & decided to go see one of the main/many spots it recommends - Changdeokgung, a palace that was lived in by generations of Korean kings all the way into the 20th century! This beautiful (& meticulously restored in the 1960's-1970's after the Cold & Korean Wars) palace sits on 450,000 square meters of land, 300,000 of which are a magnificent garden, & something I absolutely had to see! My phone died at the end of the 'Secret Garden' tour (spoken in English) we went on, so you will see a distinct change in the quality of the photos once I started using Taylor's phone which is a generation older than mine & has seen better days. But to start, here just a wee glimpse of what we experienced;

Our first glimpse of the palace, nestled right in with all the modern buildings

The front entry 😮

Secondary front entry 😮😮

First stop in the 'Secret Garden' (also known as the Forbidden Garden as only the royal family could enjoy it, or the rear garden as it is behind the palace). Our guide explained to us that the pond is square, the island a circle & the structure on the left has two posts in the water, this represented the world (believed to be square in ancient Korean times), the sky (the circle with the tree) & humans (the building with two posts- legs -in the water, between the sky & earth). She also explained that the King would play 'games' with his advisors/officials where they would take turns boating around the little island & write poems, whoever didn't finish a poem before the boat landed back at the 'human' would be stuck on the island as the loser's penalty for a short time.

Taylor & I with the 'universe' behind us 😝

An longevity doorway, because stone is one of the 10 signs of everlasting life in Korean culture, since it has enduring qualities. 

We were told that many/most royal buildings used only five colors to denote the five directions (N, S, E, W & center). Also, the writings on all the buildings were Chinese because up until the 1400's it was the spoken & written language of Korea, & only known/used by the elite. Once Hangul was created (the Korean writing system) many kings/elite opposed its circulation, wanting to keep their privilege of being the only ones with the time for learning Chinese, so many buildings have Chinese characters, even if built in the 1600's.

This rock has three Chinese characters written on it from a king in the 16th century as well. It reads; everlasting jade river...though the river is now just a trickle 😂

Our lovely tour group 😄

In a traditional royal servants quarters 😆

On our way out of the secret garden we encountered a 750 year old tree! Which I petted. And smelled. As shown, it has quite a bit of help to keep it standing, but who wouldn't need a hand after almost eight centuries! 🌱🌳🍃

We just made it into the actual palace when I snapped this panorama...& then my phone died...

So here are Taylor's photos!

The sign reads 'watch your head'. No kidding!

Our first view of the main palace.

The main palace 😎

1) Main palace courtyard

2) Taylor & I against the palace roofline

3) Closer picture of the palace details

Ah but that was only half of our day! Part two will have to be a seperate post though, as I think this has already exceeded what my little phone app can handle.

More to come,

Tea

P.S. The rest of the pictures will be posted to facebook, never fear! 😛