Finally FAMOU$

Oh my word. This day has been one of the longest days of my life. I was on my feet today for a legitimate  10 hours. We met up with Luna and her friend, Jun, at the hotel at 9:30am, and our first stop of the day was Starbucks, of course. After Starbucks, we walked to Gyeongbokgung Palace to see how Kings in 14th century Korea lived. On our way to the palace, we came across a stream in the middle of the city -- a reminder to me that Korea is the perfect mix of tradition and modernity.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

This great palace was built during the Chosun dynasty. It was very interesting to see how these kings lived -- much different than those of Europe but lavish lifestyles, nonetheless.

Insa-dong

After the palace, we walked over to Insa-dong to see the famous Korean shopping area. This is exactly what I pictured Seoul to be. In the main part of Seoul. 

When we first got to the main shopping area, we were approached by students with cameras. They wanted to know if we knew a famous Korean actor that they showed us a picture of, and we said no. They interviewed us about the first impressions of his picture and what we thought about him. Koreans were crowding around us taking pictures, and we found out later that they were filming us for a Korean entertainment show -- similar to Entertainment Tonight. 

We ate lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant and yet again the food was delicious.

There were tons of food vendors on the street, and we stopped for some Korean pancakes, but we didn't stop for the larvae that were cooking -- well, we did but only for a picture. 

After some souvenir shopping, we stopped at a traditional Korean tea house and because we had been eating food non-stop, all day, we decided to share two cups of tea just so we could all have a taste.

Luna and I

After tea we decided to do more shopping at the Lotte department store, and then in Zara (which is much cheaper here). By the time we got back to the hotel room at about 7:30pm, I was dead tired and relaxed for a bit. 

We decided to go to dinner tonight at CPK here in Seoul because we all wanted something easy, something that we all know. After CPK, we decided to end our evening and our long day with a donut from Krispy Kreme.

It's 10:36pm now, and I am basically falling asleep at my computer.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Williamsburg of Korea, a folk village where the people are dressed in costume and act as if they are from another time. My mom's cousin, Jeff, is meeting us at the folk village and it will be nice to see family so far from home.

Until tomorrow,

Meryl