Myself and K got out of the house in grand style on Saturday.  We caught an early train to Seoul to do some sightseeing.  First up was Deoksu Palace.  It was a nice place, and considering that it was 2 min away from the first exit on the city hall subway stop I’m surprised that it took almost four years for us to check it out.  We spent about a half hour walking around snapping shots of the courtyard.  As nice as Deoksu was, it wasn’t our reason for visiting the capitol city.  We were more interested in the Picasso exhibit being housed in the Deosku Palace Museum of Art.

The exhibit didn’t just have work by Picasso though, there were also works by Monet and other famous artists.  Predictably the place was pretty busy.  There were four exhibition rooms, and naturally they saved the Picasso works for the end.  K’s favorite was a Picasso work, ‘Woman in a Green hat’.  I liked one called ‘Moonlit Night’ by Emile Nolde.  It was a real treat to see authentic works of art by Picasso and other masters.

Next stop was Pommodoro, a little italian spaghetti shop that serves the best pasta I’ve had the pleasure of eating in all of Korea.  To anyone interested in this place, the easiest way to find in is to look for the Starbucks across from the Kyobo building (off the Gwanghwamun subway stop.  Once you find the Starbucks, rather than going inside, just go behind it (there’s space to walk on the left side of Starbucks).  You should be able to see Pommodoro.  Try to go there early, they always have a lineup after 12 pm.

After some delicious Pasta we went to Itaewon and Myeongdong for shopping.  I got a book for my troubles, a Korean language Picture Dictionary.  K got some shirts.   Our last stop of the evening was a free screening of a documentary called ‘Kimjongilia’. Here’s the trailer, courtesy of Youtube.

The interviews themselves were quite moving, but to be honest I thought the director could have done a much better job presenting the stories of the refugees.  The film itself was short, around 70 minutes and there were a lot of unnecessary scenes involving some Korean lady in military gear writhing and dancing which didn’t really enhance the film.  I suspect it was being used as filler to make the film longer.  That being said, it’s a worthwhile film to see for the interviews which were all compelling.  The organizers told us that over one hundred people showed up for the screening  whereas they had only expected about 30-50.  They gave a short speech at the end to encourage people to volunteer and they discussed plans for raising awareness about life in North Korea.   For anyone who is interested, visit the  Justice For North Korea website to learn more.

Here’s some photos from the day. Just click on the first photo and you can scroll through. Also full screen mode works pretty well on this one!