Gyeongbok Palace

Monday, February 15th was a holiday because of the three-day celebration around Seolnal (Lunar New Year.) We ventured into Seoul to visit Gyeongbok Palace and The National Folk Museum of Korea in Jongno-gu (Subway line 3: Gyeongbokgung Station, Exit 5). 

The palace grounds were vast and it was fun walking around seeing the beautiful architecture. The museum within the palace walls was very modern and educational. Because of the new year, there was a beautiful exhibit dedicated to the history of the tiger as a symbol. Visitors born in a year of the Tiger could get their picture taken, which would then be displayed on the wall near the exhibit.

Year of the Rat

We did Yut Divination (the numbers rolled indicate your forecast for the upcoming year). Needless to say, the information was in Korean and an elderly Korean gentleman tried to explain my horoscope to me using hand gestures and "sun," "sky," "OK!" It was very thoughtful of him to try and my friends said it seemed I was understanding him, so hopefully he feels like he did his good deed of the day helping the confused foreigner! ^_^