Ichon station, line 4. Exit 2 connects directly to the museum.
On 3/10, Ines and I went to the National Museum of Korea. It's located just across the river, near Ichon station on line 4. There's three floors of things to see, as well as an outdoor garden and a special exhibit. Admission to the museum is free (though I think the special exhibit may have a fee). There's also a children's museum attached to it.
NMoK's courtyard; a view of Namsan (N Seoul) Tower, located behind the museum;
and a ad for the current special exhibit.
Ines said the courtyard is packed with people during the summer. Even though it was a not-so-cold day (~40*F), there were only a handful of other people in sight outdoors. The museum is also located in view of Namsan Tower. You can actually see it as you're walking up to the museum from the subway (see pavilion picture below). And the current special exhibit is "Act Across America." I was a little interested in seeing what they had to show there, but not enough to bother going. There was plenty to see in the regular part of the museum, and the exhibit runs through mid-May, so I can always come back another day.
Pavilion on a little lake and the bridge crossing a stream to it.
I really like old Korean buildings (like the ones found in palaces) with the painted eaves. The decorative coloring is called 단청 (dan-cheong, "cinnabar and blue-green"). NMoK has a wooden pavilion overlooking the little lake out front.
A 7-story pagoda; a statue of Buddha.
NMoK has a large outdoor garden with pagodas and statues, as well as (supposedly) a waterfall. We only walked through ~20%, as it was cold and our hands were turning blue..
A nice view of old pagodas in the front, and skyscrapers in the back; me in a 'photo zone'.
It's still interesting to me that Seoul has all these historical buildings (palaces, gates, museums) situated in the middle of this huge city. Some of my favorite pictures are ones that show the difference a few hundred years can make... Like at 경복궁 (gyeong-bok-goong, Gyeong-bok Palace), for example. Literally 10 feet from the front gate (behind which guards dress in period clothing and most of the buildings are reconstructed [due to fire] to look like the ones from hundreds of years ago) is a busy intersection and tall buildings with huge LED ad screens.
Inside the museum, they start with things from thousands of years ago... weapons and tools and jewelry and pottery, mostly, and move to the present, through cave paintings and calligraphy and more pottery and better tools... I'm most interested in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), but unfortunately, by the time we got to that area, we were spent. "Oh look, more pottery! And more armor! And more drawings!" (This reminds me of Yellowstone, where, I swear, if I saw one more mudpot...) So, next time we decided to start at the present and work our way back in time, so that we won't burn out again before we reach Joseon. :) I took pictures of some of the more interesting displays, but unfortunately, because flash wasn't allowed, most of the pictures didn't turn out well, so... sorry. You'll have to go come visit me and see for yourself or Google around. :)
Finally, (Western) food!
Steak dinner with the roomies; Korean pizza.
Anne bought steaks for us to eat, and Mary cooked them with chopsticks (in case I forgot I was in Korea). Meat is generally pretty expensive here, especially anything of good quality (fish paste and fish patties [which, I imagine, is ground up extra fish parts] are the most common... and egg is added to a lot of things, namely soup, for extra protein). The steaks were a little thin, but delicious. And I ordered a "cheese pizza" from the local cheap pizza place. Everything comes with sweet corn. Other pizza choices: sweet potato, potato, hot chicken (seriously, it's really spicy), bulgogi (uniquely Korean marinated meat), chili shrimp. There's also "german bite" and "mexican bite" and "loin crepe"...none of which sound or look (in the little take-out menu) appealing.
Going to type up a couple essays I handwrote for class and make another post here shortly. :)
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