Changdeokgung Palace

Last Tuesday was Children's Day. It's a national holiday when most places of work are closed so parents can take their children out for a day of fun. Needless to say, the schools are closed as well...except mine. After spending the morning setting up bowling pins at least one hundred times for the first graders and their fathers (yes, my school was open on Children's Day to celebrate Father's Day), I headed out to Changdeokgung Palace with Tamra and Haidee. I had been wanting to see one of the several palaces here since before I left the States and I was quite excited.

We had about an hour to kill after we found out that we can only take a guided tour, and the English version was only at a certain time. We walked back into town and stopped to admire the fish tanks that are always present in front of the restaurants. It's funny that we foreigners see these tanks and think we're at Shedd Aquarium, but the nationals walk by and think, "Mmmm, dinner." As you can see, from the picture below, delirium began to set in from the heat, so we stopped by a little shop that served ice cream. The ice cream was only two-thousand won! Please take a second to analyze the cups that our treat was served in.
And now, the palace. It was built as a secondary palace in 1405, destroyed by the Japanese in 1592, and then restored in 1610. It is unique from the other palaces in that it is built based on the topography of the land and not based on rooms set at right angles from each other. It is said that this second palace was built because the king who commissioned it, Taejong, only came into power by assassinating his half brothers and probably didn't want to live in the same place where he murdered people. Golly, the things you find out when you read the pamphlet!
This is the main gate, the largest of all the palace gates and one of the monuments that was not destroyed by the Japanese. Below is a close-up of some of the beautiful architecture. It's quite amazing when you consider that it was all designed, built, and painted by hand. No computers or power tools involved.

Above is our tour guide. Yes, the umbrella is a common accessory since white skin is a thing of beauty here (you can't find SPF less that 50). I was astounded that she was wearing all that heavy clothing and I never once saw a bead of sweat. She was quite knowledgeable and actually was a little funny by the end of our two-hour tour. I hate to admit it, but I spent more time analyzing her accent and intonations than I did listening to the facts. Below: An original 400-year-old bridge.

The above picture is the building known as Injeongjeon. It's the throne room where most official acts take place. It was built to appear as a two-story building, but it is all one large room, as you can clearly see in the picture below. The wooden floors and "modern" lighting was only added in the 20th centry.


Above: Outside the steps of the throne room was the great courtyard. These stones look like grave markings, but they actually mark the places that the officials would stand according to rank. Below: This guy is one of the gargoils guarding the steps leading up to the throne room. I just thought he was cute! I think he could be in a Disney movie.

This building above, though it's hard to tell, is the only building on the palace grounds with a blue-tiled roof, which symbolizes the king's administrative office. Sorry that it doesn't show up in the picture very well! Below is just one of the many examples of how these buildings harmonize with the natural settings around them.

I've recently started learning Hangul, which is the written language of Korean. It was created by King Sajong. Before this, many people spoke Korean but used Chinese characters to communicate in print, and only the educated could learn the characters because of the diffuculty level. King Sajong wanted to create a language that would be easy enough for anyone to learn without needing a degree. He came up with what is now celebrated as one of the most logical written languages in the world, and consequently, Korea has a literacy rate of 99%. It is said that his inspiration for the characters used in Hangul are based on typical Korean doors and windows, such as the one above. Take a second to look at some Korean writing, and I'm sure you can instantly spot the similarities.
The two shots below: No reason, just another good shot!

One of the best spots on the tour was the secret garden, or forbidden garden. It was built as a retreat for the royal family without them needing to leave the grounds. In keeping with the norm, it was built around the topography of the land and has minimal artificial landscaping. There were many different little nooks and crannies to explore. Here's a picture of Tamra and Haidee enjoying a ten-minute break at the reflecting pond in the garden. Next is one of the nooks. And below that is a coy fish swimming around while the reflecting pond is doing its job of reflecting.




After walking through the garden, we took a little jaunt through the woods. The guide told us that at the end of the tour, we were going to see a tree that was over 750 years old. To my surprise, it was a juniper! For those who don't know, when my last name, Kataja, is translated into English, it means juniper. Seriously, I can find the Finnish in everything! (Stop rolling your eyes, Tamra!) So here's Kataja with the kataja.
And here's the end of palace tour. Thanks for reading!