April 18 - Changdeokgung Palace

On April 18th I met up with a couple who worked at the Underground restaurant with me a few years ago. They had just arrived in Korea the month before, so we got together to go and see a palace I had wanted to see for a long time.

The palace was called Changdeokgung, and was Korea's centre of power between 1618 and 1896. It can only be visited on a guided tour, which was a nice way to see it because we got to learn about the history of the place. The highlight was the 2.5 km "Secret Garden," which was a very beautiful place with forests and ponds and flowers and amazingly fresh air.

Unfortunately my camera was broken at this point, so these are Ian's photos (thank you Ian!)

A temple at the palace

Our tour guide
Palace architectural detail
The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden pond, which was sadly being drained while we were thereIn the secret garden, next to the empty pond

The three of us in front of the palace