Visiting Cheongwadae

It's been quite awhile since I've been  sightseeing, so today I went into Seoul with Miss Gillian to do just that. First on the agenda was Cheongwadae. This is also known was the "Blue House"or where the President lives. 

walking to the Blue House

Apparently you can sign up for tours of inside the Blue House, but there's a 21 days notice you must give. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the inside.

photo zone

Blue House

Next we walked over to another area where we found a beautiful fountain.

After being in the awful heat and humidity we decided to escape into a building full of art and history of Seoul.

While there, we were able to take pictures on this random computer and send them to ourselves.

Our next stop was to head to Insadong for tea sets. Well, in Seoul walking to your destination and not finding anything fun or interesting is just silly. So of course while on our walk we ran into the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace. (something I've been wanting to see)

As we began walking again we ran into a farmer's market. Gillian and I decided this was a "must stop". Good thing we did! I sampled some sort of random potato thing, korean children yelled at us to buy something, people took our pictures and I tried the BEST tomato juice.

Then, when we thought we were really on our way to Insadong we decided to check out a Buddhist temple right next to the tea shop Gillian wanted to visit. I have fallen in love with Buddhism since coming to Korea and every time I go into a temple I get butterflies. It was so beautiful!

Finally, we arrived at "Kkik Da Geo"(The Shop for Tea & Tea-things). Gillian introduced this teahouse to me after visiting several other times. I'm so glad she did! As we entered the store we were greeted by the sweetest old man who invited us to sit down and enjoy some tea and Korean snacks with him. 

I love that there are so many traditions in Korea! I sat in amazement while the man prepared our tea. He would pour water into the cups, then pour the water over a small Buddha (almost like a way to cleanse or maybe purify our tea). He did this about three times before he served us the tea. 

Today was a great day of exploring! It was so nice to spend the day with such a lovely person. Gillian will be leaving me in two weeks as she heads home to Canada. As of now I am still unsure of my return date home, but hopefully after the 5th of August I'll get word. Just the very thought of saying "home"and meaning America makes me all giddy inside. I have one more week of classes before summer vacation. Bring it on!!!

Miss you bunches!

-Jenn xoxo