Back to Seoul Again & Again

Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art – Nearby the first exit at the city hall subway stop – walk up the street between the beans & berries cafe and the convenience store, you’ll find it on the left after about 5 minutes.

This past week Koreans have been celebrating the Lunar New Year. As a result Seoul was relatively quiet. Me and K took advantage. On Wednesday we checked out a Chagall exhibit at the Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art. Unlike the Picasso exhibit, we were able to get audio guides this time. One particular work, ‘The Cock’ (a woman riding on the back of a rooster ) got lots of stifled juvenile laughs from me as the narrator went on and on describing ‘The Cock’ and woman embracing ‘The Cock’.

Myeongdong Cathedral – From exit 6 Myeongdong subway stop, walk down the shopping street and take a right at the intersection, it’ll be at the end of the street.
Myeongdong Nanta – From exit 6 Myeongdong subway stop, walk down the shopping street and take a left at the intersection, keep walking and you’ll find it amongst the shops on the left.

After Chagall we went to Myeongdong. We bought tickets to see Nanta, one of Korea’s famous theater events. We had over an hour to kill before the show started so we explored the nearby Myeongdong Cathedral. Built towards the end of the 19th century, Myeongdong’s Cathedral sits atop a hill just outside of the main shopping street. During military rule, it served as a center for pro-democracy demonstrations. The Cathedral itself was beautiful inside and out, as much a work of art as it is a building. After we got our photographic fill, we went back to the theater to catch the show. Nanta centers around the kitchen staff in a busy restaurant. There’s hardly any speaking, but rather lots of percussion courtesy of everyday kitchen utensils, the performance was great, I didn’t check the time once during the whole thing. We left Nanta and Seoul satisfied.

Seoul Square – Across the street from Seoul Station!  It’s only got the world’s biggest LED screen, kinda hard to miss at night.

Yesterday we went back to the capital city,  I read about Seoul square in a guide book which stated that it had a food arcade featuring foods from all over the world.  So K and I went for breakfast.  Too bad none of them are open at nine o’clock in the morning.  There was some interesting artwork though, so it wasn’t a total waste.   We did a little shopping in Namdaemun market before heading over to Bukchon Village.

Bukchon Village – There’s two ways to go about this.  If you’ve got your heart set on the subway… From exit 3 Anguk subway stop cross the road.  Head in the direction of Gyeongbok and take a right at the street across from Insadong.  Keep walking until you see another tourist information.  They’ll have maps and point you the rest of the way.  If you’re starting from Seoul station, just grab a taxi from in front of Seoul Square and they can take you there for about 5,000W.

We explored Bukchon village. Nestled between Gyeongbok and Chandeong palaces, Bukchon is where the government officials used to live in Seoul. The buildings have been preserved to make you feel like you’re strolling back through time when you visit. We went to Hongik University area after to check out the free markets and maybe buy some locally made artwork. Unfortunately the market is closed until March, so we had to settle for a stroll along ‘Mural alley’ next to the University’s main entrance. Overall it made for a nice day.

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