Let me backtrack for a second.....when we exited the subway at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, little did we know that there was an exhibition from the drama My Love From Another Star going on. There were signs everywhere, but since we couldn't read Korean, we didn't realize it until we got back to the states and saw an Eat Your Kimchi v-log about it. DOH!!! Major screw up on our part. Apparently, they had rebuilt the set of Do Min-joo's apartment inside the design plaza. HOW COOL WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN TO SEE??? Looking back on this, Teppy and I are extremely bummed about having been so close to that opportunity and missing it. Argh!
After our hasty exit from the Dongdaemun shopping area, we headed on over to this palace. (On our way over to this palace is where Teppy met some kimbap that set her stomach into a flying Wallenda, which is the reason why, later that night, our visit to the Banpo Bridge was truncated-see post about Banpo Bridge earlier in our blog) It was June 7th, 2014 and just 3 days earlier, on June 4th, we visited our first palace, the Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Gyeongbokgung Palace kicked our asses (see our post about that palace earlier in the blog). Because we had experienced more than our fair share of the Korean palace experience at Gyeongbokgung, I still ponder why it is that we went over to this palace. Don't get me wrong....I'm glad we did....but it was kind of sort of the same experience as the first palace.
When we arrived at this palace, there were 3 of the friendliest Koreans that we met on the ENTIRE trip. NOTE: GP PALACE STAFF WERE NOT FRIENDLY. IT'S NOT THAT THEY WERE MEAN...IT'S THAT THEY WEREN'T FRIENDLY OR MEAN...MEANING, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDLIER. We met about 11 friendly Koreans on our trip to Korea: The 2 flower boys on the subway our first day there (see blog about the defacing of Super Junior), the doorman at our hotel Hyatt Regency Jeju Island, an old ahjussi on the subway who wanted to talk to us in English, the hanbok guy at Gwanjang Market, an ahjumma who came flying onto a subway at the last second prompting me to give her a fist pump and say "ahujumma hwighting!", the crazy bra guy from Namdaemun Market, Robert our host, the barista at the Coffee Prince, and these 3 employees of the palace. Teppy may remember more, but considering most people moved away from us and avoided eye contact, I remember these people quite well. Anyhow, the 3 employees were dressed in hanbok and engaged us in conversation, offering us free books and taking photos with us. I give them A++ in my book for personality. They are definitely in the right field with their abilities to speak English, engage strangers, and smile effortlessly while dressed in serious ass hot costumes!
Tickets to this palace were $3, just like the Gyeongbokgung Palace. From what we read about this palace, it was a 2nd palace to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, having housed the royal family longer due to fires and damage at Gyeongbokgung. It is also said to be "one with its natural surroundings". I kept thinking of Frank Lloyd Wright and his Taliesin home in Wisconsin, how it, too, was built as part of its natural surroundings. Taliesin and this palace are nothing alike. I'm just saying I kept thinking of old Frank when I heard the whole bit about being "in sync with nature" and all that other nature stuff about the palace. I wonder if there was a creepy axing of anyone at this palace? Yikes, did I just think that out loud? (That was a reference to the murder at Taliesin of FLW's girlfriend, her 2 children, and several employees)
We purchased the English language guidebook for the palace and made our way through the grounds. This palace was absolutely stunning, and in my opinion, felt a bit more cozy and homey (if you can call a gigantic palace homey) than GP. It wasn't as spread out as GP and had a more intimate feel to it. Out behind the palace was a secret garden that we did not visit. Because we really were already palaced out, adding yet another stop on this visit was not something either of us wanted to do. I'm sure it is a beautiful garden. However, walking in the heat while dragging camera equipment around on top of a funky stomach Teppy, was just not working for us. We only were at the palace an hour our so, but it was a short and sweet visit that I am glad we made. It was nice to see the two palaces and make mental comparisons. If I had to choose 1 to live in, it would have been this one.
Final take on this palace: Definitely visit this place! It is beautiful, serene, colorful, and the staff is extremely friendly. Also, visit the secret garden out back. Remember, if you are allergic to egg, do NOT eat kimbap before you visit this or any other palace in Korea! I'm just sayin'.