Tuesday we did some more sightseeing in Seoul. Our hotel was right next to City Hall...so it was in a great location for walking to lots of tourist attractions and restaurants. We went to the Deoksugung Palace (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264316) where they have Royal Guard Changing Ceremony three times a day (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=292962) and a tea house with traditional teas. For lunch, we went to a nearby restaurant that had kimbap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbap) which is sort of considered fastfood here. We also ate one other dish and kimichi mandu. Very delicious. After, we stopped at a store that was selling rice cakes (I think it is called tteok, a Korean-style rice cake ...basically mochi in Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_cake). We also stopped in the subway to get some very popular buns that had four different types of filling. We know for sure 3 out of the 4 fillings were red bean, cream cheese, and sweet potato...not sure about the fourth. They were so popular there was a line of up to 50 people at one point. They were pretty good. After stuffing ourselves, we visited the City Hall building. A very cool building with a free museum. There also happened to be a recycled art fair going on. For dinner, we went to a Chinese fusion restaurant nearby and went to the Nanta show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanta_(show)), the longest running show in Korean history. It is an almost entirely non-verbal comedy show that invovled "drumming" with knifes while cutting/cooking food.
Popular buns in subway station, four different flavors
Cream cheese bun
Long line for the popular buns
Namdaemun, gate in Seoul (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namdaemun)
Deoksugung Palace area
Inside above building
Deoksugung Palace area
Deoksugung Palace area
Royal Guard Changing Ceremony
Royal Guard Changing Ceremony
Tea inside the Deoksugung Palace area; Left= Mogwa cha (Quince tea with honey), Right=Ssangwha cha (Oniental tea made of medicinal herbs)
Rice cakes
City Hall
Inside City Hall
Inside City Hall
Inside City Hall (ceiling)
Recycled Art Festival
Inside City Hall
Dinner at Chinese fusion restaurant
Seoul at night
Nanta stage