A Palace, A Tower, and Lots of Cats

Day two in Korea.  It started with a visit to Changdeokgung, another palace.  This time Heather and I joined a tour.  The tour guide told us that during the Choson Dynasty, the king selected women to serve as his potential wife but his parents selected the woman who would actually marry the king and serve as his queen.  The runner up for queen was given the honor of serving as the King's concubine (imagine this on the Bachelor?).  The tour guide very diplomatically explained that the last king to live at Changdeokgung initially chose not to have a concubine because he was "not very strong." Because the woman rejected as queen had been considered so highly by the king, all other men considered themselves unworthy to wed her.  As a result, she remained single and available to later serve as the king's concubine when he was unable to have children with his queen.  The concubine's quarters were located in a brown building right next door to the living quarters for the king's mother. The king didn't have to worry about his mother's judgmental looks when abandoning his wife for a night with his concubine because the royal lineage was on the line.  Unfortunately, the king died childless a couple of years after taking a concubine.  The concubine was required to leave the palace grounds after the King's death and the widowed queen, feeling that her mood did not match that of the colorful palace, moved into the concubine's quarters.  The only remaining heirs to the throne, half siblings of the king, were taken to Japan and forced to marry Japanese spouses in an attempt to dilute the royal line (Korea was ruled by Japan on more than one occasion).  When the royal heirs later returned to Korea, they were rejected by the newly established Korean government because the government feared a resurgence of the monarchy.  The history of the palace makes it so much more fascinating to look at.

The Palace

Zodiac Symbols on all of the eaves.

Colorful Palace

Heather's friend Evan joined us for a tour of the secret garden located behind Changdeokgung.  It was obvious that the garden was emerging from a cold winter, but it was still nice to feel surrounded by nature in the middle of a dense city.

The stream where royals played
drinking games.

A very old tree.

Evan, Heather and I had a traditional Korean meal for lunch, complete with several types of kimchee and floor seating.  I discovered that cucumber kimchee tastes far superior than its cabbage cousin.

After lunch, Heather and I rode a cable car up to Namsam, or Nam mountain.

N Seoul Tower

North Seoul Tower is located at the top of Nam mountain, as are thousands upon thousands of love padlocks.  I left a love lock for Chris and I "as a token of our eternal love" and to represent the "commitment and love between" us.  Finally, having left behind a love lock, I could rest assured that our love was eternal.

Look at all those padlocks in the background.  This is
a small fraction of all the padlocks.

Heather and I also posed for a picture in the love chair, "the magical chair that makes two people fall in love."  We didn't sit too long, though, for fear we would succumb to the chair's power. 

The heart chair.

The view of the city as the day was dying was lovely, even if it wasn't a particularly clear day.

View from the mountain: the Han River.

Sunset on the mountain.

While at Namsam, a group of three Asian people who did not speak English tapped Heather and I on the shoulder and pointed to a camera as if they were asking us to take their photo.  I agreed and reached for the camera.  Before I could grab the camera, the girl ran to her friends, handed them her camera, and then ran back to pose with Heather and I.  After taking the girl's picture, each of her friends took a turn posing with us.  After three pictures with complete strangers, the group nodded in thanks and left.  We were irresistible.

After riding the cable car back down the mountain, Heather and I found ourselves in Myeong-dong.  Myeong-dong is a shopping area packed with endless stores, people, and street stalls.  The number of people and lights crammed into the narrow streets was like something out of a TV program about visiting the busiest areas of Asia.  Heather and I feasted on street food (egg bread, a crepe, and fried bread shaped like fish and stuffed with red beans) and visited big name stores (H&M!) and boutique stores (Kath Kitson!).  We even stepped into the occasional cosmetic store.  In Korea, store attendants frequently follow you around and try to sell you whatever is nearest you.  If you pick up something, the attendant will begin talking to you about all the attributes of the item in your hand.  In one cosmetic store, I asked the attendant watching me about the eyelid tool.  The attendant pulled her eyelids up to make her eyes larger and stated, "Eyelid glue. You don't need."

Busy Myeong-dong street

It wouldn't fit in my suitcase.

By far the most interesting thing Heather and I did in Myeong-dong was visit the Cat Cafe.  Located on the third floor of one of the shopping buildings, the cat cafe is exactly what it sounds like: a cafe filled with live cats for your coffee drinking pleasure.  The cats were everywhere: on the counter, lounging in cat towers, laying on tables, sitting behind you in yout chair, and exploring the trash and exposed drinking straws.  When Heather and I sat down, one cat jumped on the table and immediately started sniffing our drinks.   There were even hairless cats.  Heather counted at least 20 catsA in the place.  The whole experience was the source of large amounts of laughter, despite the strong scent of cat urine that permeated the whole place.  Luckily, we were given large plastic bags to protect our stuff from cats who like to mark new territory.

Four cats on the counter; one near the coffee pot.

Want to buy a cat scarf?

The cat's loved the cafe's proprietor.

Yes, that's a cat.

After leaving the cat cafe, a person wearing a dog costume handed us this flyer:

  

Too exhausted from the day, Heather and I decided to save the dog cafe for another day.  We never made it back to Myeong-dong, so I guess I'll have to visit the dog cafe on my next trip to Seoul.

Day two in Seoul was classic: traditional Korea, modern day Korea, and even the strangely unique.