Hello cherry blossoms! and Hello Korea!
If you're visiting Seoul for the first time (like me!), Gyeongbokgung Palace is a must-see. One of five (!) palaces in the area, Gyeongbokgung Palace is the biggest and (some would argue) the most beautiful.
The palace was originally built in 1395 and served as the main royal residence and seat of government for the Joseon Dynasty. It was the heart of the new capital, Hanyang (what we now call Seoul), and a symbol of the Joseon Dynasty's power.
One fun aspect of visiting is that you'll see soooooo many people wearing traditional Korean hanbok. This is because wearing the hanbok grants you free admission to the palace, which is a nice bonus. There are numerous hanbok rental shops surrounding the palace. So, it's not hard to rent one if you want to get some nice, historic photos!
Alas, Bryan wasn't really interested in dressing up (haha!) so we paid the small fee to enter.
The day we went it happened to be raining pretty hard. Yet the rain did not deter the throngs of beautiful people in hanbok from enjoying the palace and taking tons and tons of photos.
I do love this "hanbok" free entry rule. It makes the entire area feel so colorful, lively, and historic!
Check out all these people taking shelter from the rain!
The grounds are reasonably sized. It's a good idea to set aside at least 1-2 hours to explore the various buildings.
There is a changing of the royal guards that occurs twice a day in front of Gwanghwamun. Unfortunately, we did not get up early enough to see it.
The gardens are beautiful, even with the rain. During the spring, you can even see cherry blossoms! I LOVE cherry blossoms. And since we didn't go to Japan this spring, I was so glad to still have a chance to seen so many blossoms in Korea!
National Palace Museum of Korea
The National Palace Museum is on the palace grounds, so it's not too hard to visit. Entrance is free, and there are a lot of cool things to explore. I especially enjoyed learning a bit about the history behind this palace.
Korean writing used to be based on Chinese characters, and it was interesting to see it being used in some of the older texts.
Here's some Korean text!
All in all, it was nice to spend some time in the warm shelter of the museum, especially on such a rainy day!
