After a short night’s sleep, we awoke in Seoul, well
actually the port of Inchon which is several hours away from Seoul.
The city of Inchon had a shuttle bus that we took at 8:00am
to the center of the city of Inchon.
There we boarded a subway that took us into Seoul. We went 24 stops and finally came to the
subway stop that was right at the Gyeonbokbgung Palace; the Imperial Palace for
Korea built beginning in 1395 and expanded a number of times. There are 330 structures with 5,792 rooms
taking us 4,414,000 square feet of land.
The place is huge.
Since we were touring on our own, we did not have a tour guide. We did however find one - a high school
junior who was a volunteer at the Palace.
She spent the next couple of hours with us taking us around the
palace. We could not believe the hours
that she spends in school. She goes to
bed at 2:00am and up at 5:00am – her school schedule is incredible. High school students do not play sports as they
do not have the time. They also have the
highest suicide rate in the world because of all the pressure they have on
them!
After seeing the Palace we asked her about a famous shopping
street and she told us she would be happy to take us there.
So we all got into a cab and away we went. For the next couple of hours, we walked this
huge street that was blocked off from traffic, shopped and found a neat
backstreet and then downstairs restaurant where we ate lunch. No English – not even any signs in English.
After lunch she was very excited to take us to a place where
you put on traditional Korean dress and we all did and had our pictures taken –
and she insisted on paying for the pictures.
Following that, she took us to the subway/train station,
walked us to the correct train and then said goodbye. What a delightful experience we had – and she
was very special to take the time to do this with us.
We did not have a lot of time in Seoul, but the time we did have
was a fun time.
When we arrived back in Inchon, we then took the shuttle bus
back to the ship.
After a very tiring day, it was time for a nap.
As we had seen the entertainer in the show, we missed the
show and instead just people watched until dinner time.
The other two couples did not show up so we had each other
as dinner partners – and we just relaxed and ate and ate, as usual.
After dinner it was time for the casino where we did very
well again.
It was our Casino Hosts Selma’s last night so it was a
little sad to see her go but Sead (Sea-Nod) is still here so we will still have
a good host in the casino.
Tomorrow we visit JeJu Island from 1:00pm – 10:00pm – a total
resort island off the Korean coast.
Night from somewhere on the ocean.
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| Summer Palace |
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| Our new guide Liea |
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| Winter bedroom |
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| Part of the Summer Palace |
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| Dress up time |
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| Lunch restraurant |
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| Lunch |
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| Part of the Summer Palace |
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| Our Casino Hosts - Selma and Sead (Sea-odd) |
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