Day 2 in Seoul, South Korea!

A Russian store in South Korea?? There are some Russians in Busan and Seoul mostly for import/export of goods to Russia.

Here we are in Seoul walking along a man-made stream overwhich a highway was built around 1960. A few years ago, the highway was torn down to make way for this nice walkway.

More walking...

Some murals along the way....

...Including Korean sign language.

Here's a memorial of the old highway.

This water fountain made us wet.

But it was fun.

Here we are touring the Palace in Seoul (Chang Deok Gung), which was constructed around 1400 AD and remained occupied by royalty until 1989.

Here's the main part housing the King's throne.

Another view.

These are markers indicating where the various officials were to sit.

The king's throne room again.

And there's the throne. The electric lights were added in the early 1900's.

A decorative wood carving.

We're entering another part of the palace where the buisness was carried out.

Roof corners galore.

Here we are.

Fence close-up.

The roof lines are very decorative.

Some of the old nail-less woodwork.

Some nice shades.

Here, we're starting a short tour of the "secret gardens".

Here's a look through those square stones.

And a look at those lilly things with the flowers in full bloom.

The secret garden is really a long walk though the palace forrest. We only went through about 1/4 of it and it took about 20 minutes or so.

Here's HeeJin, Yohan and JungWon playing "Potato Chip" in the car.

This is inside the most prestigious hotel in Seoul, "W", which is on the side of a mountain overlooking the city. It has a very modern decor, including this fun wood art thing that tracks people's motion by camera and tilts the wood "mirrors" according to what it sees. It resembles the "wave" in a baseball stadium when you walk by.

Some glass art from the neighboring older version of "W".

Now we're eating at the pizza restaurant on the top of the mountain, and you can see "W" blocking the view of the city.

Here's SeoJin, YoonJin and YooShin playing around.

... and here are the rest of us.