I met up with my Korean language exchange partner, Sunmi, again on Sunday afternoon. She took me to a different palace, called 덕수궁, or Duksoogoong. I think it was the last palace inhabited by a Korean king before the Japanese occupation of Korea. It's a bit smaller, but it was still beautiful.
We got to see the changing of the guard ceremony before we went in, and it was so cool:
You can barely see it on the right-hand side, but there was this huge drum the guy in green played sometimes, and you could feel it in your gut when he hit it.
Coffee was introduced to Korea around the turn of the century, and the last king liked it so much, he had this pavilion built exclusively for him to drink coffee. We got to go in, take our shoes off, and sit at his table. It's good to be the king.
Throne room and courtyard
Back of throne room
Here's where it started looking familiar - Mom, brace yourself, you might want to be sitting down. Sunmi told me this is where the Korean TV show "Goong" (Palace) was filmed, which was the first ever Korean show I watched, and Mom watched and loved it too. Marce, I think we watched the first episode of it. Needless to say, I was dying. In the good way, of course. Sunmi was surprised when I knew the drama, and I only hope I was able to contain my excitement so she couldn't tell I was going nuts inside.
This building (which is being reconstructed, hence the stuff at the bottom), was the only western style building in a palace in Korea, and now houses an art museum. We went inside to get tickets, when an ajusshi (older man) shoved a bunch of tickets in our hands and told us to go see the exhibit. Seemed pretty sketchy to us, but the ladies taking our tickets told us that he was actually really famous in the world of traditional Korean art, Hwang Pyung Woo. I've still got to google him to find out more.
Oh gosh, I still feel behind. I'll try to update on the rest of the week soon, but I've had quizzes yesterday and a baseball game tomorrow night - so little time! Love you guys.
2 comments:
I love the buildings and the trees there. And I do remember watching that first episode with you. It was really good. We'll have to watch the rest. That is so fun that you got to see the place where it was filmed-I bet you WERE dying! I'm so glad you are having so much fun!
OH MY GOSH!!! If Sunmi only know how well you (we) know that show! I thought that some of the costumes the "guards" were wearing looked similar to the costumes in the show also. The next to last picture of the palace buildings looks so famliar. And you met a famous Korean artist! You are having such neat adventures!
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