A Palace & a cup o' noodles

Today was a bit impromptu - we started out at a bookstore and ended the night with dinner from 7-Eleven!

Kiel and I set out today (unintentionally) wearing almost the same outfit. We've seen a lot of couples either both wearing the same shoes, t-shirt, or dressed exactly alike from head to toe (but we're not that cool!).

We didn't really have and ideas in mind so we grabbed some iced coffees and head to a book store where we went our separate ways for about an hour. I perused the gift shop area (so much stationary and pens!), and Kiel ended up adding a few more books to his Amazon wishlist. 

We walked outside to find the "UnivExpo Seoul" expo going on, but we had no idea what it was for since everything was in Korean. We had talked about going to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza for a Pixar exhibition that we randomly saw advertised on a poster, but the Gyeonbokgung Palace was right where we were so we ventured over there instead (We're heading to the DDP tomorrow).

Architecture along the way...

The Kyobo Bookstore!

The look you give when your wife suggests 

you try sheet masks for men!                                           

Entrance to bookstore

 The palace was stunning and the grounds were massive! Gyeonbokgung is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty.

There were quite a lot of tourists and lot of girls taking pictures wearing (rented) Hanboks (stay tuned for next Tuesday! 😏 ), but the weather was perfect and made for a lovely Saturday.

The Main Gate

The Second Inner Gate

The Third Inner Gate

Federation of Korean Tea Masters Society

Gyeonghoeru, an open two story pavilion, was used for royal banquets and entertainment of foreign envoys. There are three bays, symbolizing heaven, earth, and man, and the twelve bay outside of them symbolize the twelve months of the year. The
outermost 24 columns symbolize the 24 solar terms that marks the natural events of the year. 

Neat performance by these ladies.

We didn't have our first meal of the day until about 4pm (the hanger was kicking in). We had heard good things about Vatos Urban Tacos, so we ventured there for dinner. It was touristy, yet also a place where locals go, and a mix of American, Mexican and Korean food. We loved the Galbi short rib tacos and kimchi carnitas fries!

After another busy day, we took the subway back to the hotel, did some laundry and then popped into 7-Eleven where we got all the Korean snacks. One of Kiel's new favorite is "Milkis", a drink that tastes like a fizzy creamsicle. 

We boiled water from the little pot in our hotel room and sat on the bed enjoying cartons of Ramen from our lap or the window sill, because there's no where else to go in this tiny room. Goodnight!