Bus Tour (3 weeks late)

As I haven't updated in gasp, 3 weeks, I've got a lot to write. Sorry. I have 3 weekends of pictures to catch you up on. And a cultural conundrum. I'll start from the beginning.

Three weeks ago, Jennifer decided to go on a tour bus tour of Seoul. You know the kind, they are all over the world. You pay a set fee to get on and off the bus all day so that you can see the sights of some famous city, such as London or D.C. I decided to tag along.

I think she wanted to see everything Seoul has to offer; I wasn't as ambitious. I just wanted to see a few things and get an overview of the city.

Do you know how hard it is to be a tourist? It's exhausting. You cram your day full of must-see attractions, so you walk everywhere, chase after the bus, and stop to take lots of pictures, while you figure out what you're seeing and what makes it important. It's mentally and physically tiring. Don't get me wrong, it was fascinating to see everything. But you can't fit all of Seoul into one day. Trust me. I tried. And only made it to two places.

First stop, Deoksugung Palace. We decided rather late to see this so I hopped off the bus, but the doors closed before Jennifer made it out. I saw the changing of the guard before Jennifer walked back and we met up to explore the palace grounds. It's so strange to me that the palace stands in the middle of busy bustling Seoul.

The colors of the palace.

A large statue of Buddha.

The changing of the guard.

Me next to an old outdoor area at the palace.

Our second stop was to the National Museum of Korea. The museum grounds were extensive as well as the museum itself. We only made it to two exhibition rooms and called it a day. Jennifer picked the archaeological room and I picked the art room. So we got a pretty good overview of Korean history and culture.

The museum was a mix of old and new as you can see from the huge glass and concrete building and the traditional tea house with the tiled green roof and red support beams. Yeah, support beams. That's romantic. We didn't go into the tea house, because you had to remove your shoes and neither of us was up for that, but we took pictures because it was picturesque and quaint and for a moment you could forget about the city around you.

We spent most of our time on the grounds. We went to Dragon Falls, where water misted over the top of a pond. We found a beautiful spring with gorgeous foliage and I, of course, had to stop and take a picture. We found really cool structures, whose names I don't know, but probably should.

The rest of the day was spent on the bus, driving past places that neither of us was up to exploring that day. I'm really glad that I got a chance to see the city, though. Even just part of it. I went all out and enjoyed being touristy and stopping every 5 minutes to take the next best shot. "This is it! This is the best shot!" to "Oh, wow! This is going to be the best picture. The one that stands out!" You know what I'm talking about. Or it's just me. And my dad. And that was my Saturday in Seoul.