After lunch we headed to Changdeokgung Palace to explore
the grounds and take a tour of the Secret Garden.
The Changdeokgung Palace was built in 1405 and was a secondary palace of the
Joseon Dynasty. After its destruction during the Japanese invasion (1592-1598), it was rebuilt in 1610.
It then served as the main palace for about 270 years.
We had about an hour to explore the palace before our
guided tour. Shortly after we started exploring the grounds,
this gentleman started asking us questions about the palace
and giving us lots history about the palace. He walked us around the
palace for about 30 minutes before he had to leave us. It turns out he was
one of the tour guides at the palace and he spent some of his down time giving us
a short tour. He had so much information, and managed to engage us all and make it fun.
I could have spent hours following him around the ground.
We grabbed some water and headed off to find the starting point
for our tour of the Secret Garden.
The only way to view this area is by a guided tour and the only option
was a group tour.
I crossed my fingers and was hopeful that because it was
the English tour it would not be crowded.
Luck was not on my side.
We headed out on our 90 minute tour with
100 of our newest friends.
The grounds were beautiful and I
could spend hours taking photos. I would love to go back in the Fall
and when the cherry trees bloom, but I was not a fan of the tour.
While the guide did provide some history he
spent a lot of time talking about all the K-dramas
and Netflix moves that have been filmed at the gardens.
The garden is closed on Mondays to allow film crews
to use the area and I can see why.
The Diva was all over that! She loves K-dramas, so it
was a great addition for her.
I had heard some rumbling durning the tour, but didn't give them much thought and once
we got done I was ready to head to our next location, the Cheonggyecheon Stream.
We had already logged 19k steps and I was ready to keep going, but I was
informed that I was about to have a mutiny on my hands
if we didn't head back to the hotel. The most shocking part was the
ring leader of this mutiny was my very own husband.
Not only did I have to head back to the hotel they had all decided that
were going to take the bus!
I don't like to take the bus or subways while we travel, because I
believe you learn so much about a city just by walking it.
About 30 seconds after this picture was taken this little
guy was out cold on my lap.
After we got back to the hotel someone was feeling
a little guilty for being the ring leader of the mutiny, so
he took me up to the M lounge to
have appetizers and drinks.
The lounge did have some amazing views.
We chatted about the city and upcoming trips. He
is trying to talk me into a vacation instead of another trip for our
November excursion. According to him a vacation is relaxing
and not go go go with 20k plus steps each day, but a trip is filled with lots history and walking.
He does know the way to my heart, unlimited americano, so
I think he thought if he could keep the americanos coming, I would
agree to a vacation over a trip.
We decided to table that discussion until I do a
little more research on the area we are going to.
After chilling in the lounge for a while we headed back to our room to relieve our
babysitter (Mr. Man) and got ready for bed.
I had to rework our plan for the next day to see how much
I could squeeze in before we had to head home.
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