Flowers of Seoul

One Monday in Seoul, we decided to go visit the National Museum of Korea. That was a horrible move on my part since when we arrived after taking the bus and a couple of subway trains we found the museum closed on Mondays. Well, I saw a sign that said that the Family park was a fair walk away. Once again I messed up. I confused it with the Children's Park which is a great place to visit unlike the Family Park. We then dragged ourselves back to the subway wanting the day to get better. We saw signs everywhere pointing to this new venue, so we rode the subway excited about being able to see something in Seoul we have not seen. That was strike three. With all of the advertising, one would not expect the place to be under construction and not even open yet...

I did however get a photograph of the flowers in front of the museum. The grey and rainy skies did provide some nice blooms.

Korean Airlines at Gimpo Airport, South Korea

Here are a couple of photographs of a Korean Airline's jet getting prepared for flight. These were shot through the glass window at Gimpo Airport as we waited for our flight from Seoul to Jeju Island.

Seoul Fish Market

Here is a view of Seoul's Fish Market from the bridge that led from the subway terminal. You can tell that there are a lot of different fish being sold. Each sign represents the company that is located beneath the sign. I guess this is derived from the saying that you should keep your friends near, and your enemies even closer. That is, the competition here is side by side. You cannot get closer than that. The theory behind this business practice is that people will come from all over to purchase their fish here, therefore there are more customers at this location. In America, the business practice is less common, and leans towards keeping your competition out of a five mile perimeter. We purchased a lot of seafood there for supper that evening.

Namsan Tower in Seoul

The earlier posted Seoul Tower blog posting raised some questions about the tower. All these years I have known the tower as Namsan Tower. Upon this year's visit, it seems to be called Seoul Tower. I guess it is just easier for the foreigners to call it the latter.  Namsan translates to south mountain, Nam meaning south and san meaning mountain. There is an observatory that provides a view of the surrounding area of Seoul. You can say it is very similar and has the same purpose as the other famous towers around the world. There is a very large park that the tower sits on. We took the gondola to the top of the mountain to reach the tower. For more information, you may check this site out: http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_4_4_3.jsp


More photographs from Namsan Park will be posted if a few days.

Seoul Tower photograph of.... Me!

Well here I am on a visit to Seoul Tower on April 14, 2010. This was one of the best weather days that we had during our two week visit to Korea. It seems that I  go to the tower upon every visit to Seoul. I am not sure why, but it just seems to be the place to go. By the way, I am much better looking in person. :-)

This photograph was taken by my wife, so it is probably much better than my photographs (accept for the subject matter).

Side Entrance to Gyeongbok Palace

This is a really cool angle taken from the right side entrance. There is a moat between this gate and the palace seen inside. It almost makes you want to travel back in time to see the palace during the Chosun Dynasty.

More palace pictures where posted on May first.

Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul Korea

This is a tranquil image of Gyeonbok Palace located in Seoul Korea. The history of this place goes back to 1394 when King Taejo of Chosun built the palace. The buildings on the palace grounds are beautiful and the paint is intricate. It is a must see for anyone visiting Seoul.

The second view shows the cherry blossoms in the early stages of blooming. It is interesting trying to imagine the palace when it was used as the main palace of the Chosun Dynasty.