Changdeokgung Palace

OK, let's take a jump back in time to last November...and finish posting about my trip to South Korea!  Seoul is full of Korean history (I know, just call me Captain Obvious)!  There were several royal palaces to visit and I only saw a couple of them.  This is Changdeokgung - I have this helpful sign picture to tell me which palace this was. 

Funny story the morning I visited...I was with a friend for part of my visit to Seoul, but he had to take the train home to return to work on Monday. So Sunday I was on my own. We had walked by this palace once but just before it closed so we didn't go in.  When I went back on Sunday morning, there was a group congregating outside the subway station and a very friendly Korean man saw me coming up the stairs.  He came right up to me, smiling, shook my hand and welcomed me to the group!  I must have looked confused because then he asked if I was with some Meetup group and I was like "um, no"!  He apologized profusely and sent me on my way. I guess they were a Meetup group headed sight-seeing.  Let's face it, I was probably the only blonde woman coming out of the station, so it seemed like I might have been looking for him.  Too funny!  Friendly though.   

The ticket price included a free tour (in English!) if you arrived at the appointed time.  We got a bit of history about the palace and grounds, as well as the emporers who lived here.  The building above was a hall where the emporer would have received all kinds of formal guests - his main "court" if I put it into British palace terms. 

 

This was a residential building in the complex.  The building on the left was the empress' house and along the back you can see a covered walkway - that connected to the emporer's house which is just off camera.  Secret passage for private visits - spicy!

This was a view into one of the houses.  It was built near the emporer and empress's houses for the emporer's primary mistress.  Again with the fun scandals!  The Tudors have nothing on the Koreans.

Finally, another view of the main hall, showing some of the courtyard.  Can you see the main sidewalk up the center that the people are on?  That would have been for the emporer to approach the hall.  The little stone signs in the foreground were markers for where important military and government advisors were to line up for official ceremonies.