Back to Seoul

We had an amazing trip back to Seoul☺ Here is a quick video for the short version, featuring Gyeongbok Palace and our trip to the Han River:

Checking for our track number at Osong Station

We left Saturday morning, arriving in Seoul just before lunch time. Unfortunately it rained for most of the afternoon, but we made the best of it by window shopping at Namdaemun market and the DDP (things we had enjoyed doing on our first trip).

Namdaemun Market: Army surplus

View from hotel

Gyeongbok Palace

Sunday morning we took a trip to the palace we arrived too late at last time, Gyeongbok. The largest of the five palaces in Seoul. Not only was it really big, there were a ton of people here. Many were dressed in traditional clothes, called Hanbok, and were posing at every blooming tree and painted column.

Of course, we were posing for pictures too ☺

Gyeonghoeru, the royal banquet hall

Many gardens surround the palace buildings

♥

Entrance to Geoncheonggung Residence, King Gojon's private residence, 

known for being the site of the assassination of the Empress in 1895 by Japanese agents

View of the National Folk Museum

Ceremonial courtyard of Geunjeong, the king's throne room

Overall thoughts: beautiful views of the mountains, really cool Korean history lessons, fun people watching, and it was huge! Our favorite spot was that royal banquet hall surrounded by water. Downside was the crowds; it was really busy. It was almost impossible to get photos without other people in them.

Itaewon

Saturday evening we went to Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul known as the "foreigner district." Our first impression? Super cool place. So many little boutiques and shops, lots of different cultures represented, and it's actually quite hilly.

Well howdy there, building art

Uncle Sam's Pancakes
(Sam was excited to take this picture ☺)

Views of Namsan tower

So we were getting lost wandering around and feeling like we were back in SF. The only thing we were surprised by was the lack of actual foreigners. Not sure what we expected exactly, I mean, there were definitely foreigners there. And everyone we encountered at the shops spoke English, but I guess we didn't expect there to also be so many Koreans there. Anyway, it was a really cool place.

Rolling streets

Cute park tucked away on a hill surrounded by buildings

Our plans for Saturday night were just to wander around and kill some time before dinner. We found a great craft brewery called Namsan Chemistry. 

Namsan Chemistry

Sam and I enjoying a craft beer at Namsan Chemistry

Our dinner on Saturday night was at Southside Parlor, a Texas-style BBQ and mixology bar. It was recommended to us by one of our friends who recently moved back to the states. It was really delicious! We got these things called "piggy chips" which were cajun-seasoned sweet potato chips topped with pulled pork bbq, shredded monterey jack cheese, a lot of cilantro, and sriracha-mayo. Super spicy, but really delicious. 

"Piggy Chips" @ Southside Parlor

Namsan lit up

Itaewon's subway station has some really cool escalators O.O

Our goal for Sunday night (after spending the day at the palace) was to find some more delicious craft beers! We did a little research and found a bar called Sour Pongdang which specializes in sours, my favorite ♥ Apparently they have a sour that uses tangerines from Jeju, but it wasn't on the menu when we were there. 

Cool atmosphere

Right across the street was a place called the Booth, featuring the booth brewing and some great pizza. 

☺ 

All-in-all we had a great time exploring. We saw some historical treasures, duty free threads, and some food favorites. And we saw a different side of Seoul in Itaewon. 

Of course, perfect blue skies on Monday as we're packing up ..

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed the pictures and the video ☺