After a long night of shopping in Myeong Dong, I was ready for a rich day of cultural site tours. We began the next day by first visiting the stream in Cheonggyecheon-Ro. Unfortunately, it was still raining and misting. However, that did not detract from the beauty of the stream! The stream had a walkway beside it and the surrounding area were lined with paper lanterns. The lanterns added a beautiful pop of culture and color to the cool blue stream.

After we walked past the stream, we walked past a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Si and King Sejong. Admiral Yi Sun-Si was an old Korean war hero who won against the Japanese navy. It was really cool learning the origin of the name of our hotel “Sejong.” King Sejong was one of the greatest kings of Korean and is known for his development of the Korean alphabet “Hangeul.”

Past these statues was the Gyeongbokgong Palace. The palace was scenic as the palace was the foreground for great towering mountains. Once we walked inside the palace, we watched the changing of the guards ceremony. The ceremony began with a band of traditional instruments signaling the timing of the ceremony. The guards lined up in a synchronized formation and peformed the changing of their duties. Their traditional outfits were so beautiful and colorful. The oufits especially stood out amongst the grey sky as it was still raining.

After, we toured the Blue House which was nearby Gyeongbokgong Palace. On the way there, we crossed paths that were line with stunning greenery. The Blue House was the old presidential residence of the South Korean Presidents. The House sets itself apart with its vibrant blue roof tiles.

At the end of the tour, our group was starving. We explored the area for lunch and ended up following our lovely tour guide, Kay, to her favorite authentic Korean restaurant. I ordered scallion pancake and kimchi dumplings for lunch. For dessert, we traveled down the street to get donuts and coffee at the popular Korean pastry chain: Paris Baguette.

Lunch fueled us with energy to make the next stop in our tour. We went to the Buddhist Temple, Jogyessa. The temple was decorated with lines of paper lanterns.

Later, we had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. At dinner, we were joined by some Pitt alumni. I had the opportunity to try so many new foods during dinner! I was almost overwhelmed by the amount of sides and dishes the restaurant served. To top off dinner, we were able to try on traditional Korean Hanboks in the restaurant’s lobby.

Today really gave me a solid understanding of Korea’s cultural history and background.