Old vs. New

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Today we went into Seoul because the Seoul Museum of Art had a Picasso exhibit going on. I'm not a huge art junky by any means, but it seemed like a good way to explore some of the city because we had not been into Seoul during the day.

Before going to the Art Museum we first walked around one of Seoul’s many historical sites, Deok Su Gung Palace. It felt pretty weird to be in an area fenced off in the middle of downtown Seoul. In front of you are these buildings that are over 500 years-old, and then towering over the surrounding landscape all you see are skyscrapers from the current era. When leaving we were also fortunate enough to see the changing of the guard at the gates, even though there isn't really guards, per se.

The Picasso exhibit was pretty neat because we were standing in front of paintings that are most likely priceless, if not way out of my financial boundaries. You could see all of the fine brush strokes, even globs of paint that were probably thrown onto the canvas. I tried to take a picture of a few paintings ("La ceinture jaune" - 1932- some picture of a big nosed lady) without my flash, but then I was spotted by the museum staff so I had to keep my camera away. For those that know, other famous paintings that we saw include "La femme qui pleure - 1937", "Le pigeon - 1912" and "La Dance - 1967".

After coming out of the museum, just outside of Seoul City Hall there was some sort of demonstration/rally. We had seen a lot of police buses earlier and assumed that they were prison buses, but later concluded that they were riot police in the event that something went wrong. The streets were filled with older Korean men wearing what looked to be veteran army attire. There was also a truck with two "fake" missiles and hanging from the end was a dummy which we assumed to be Kim Jong Il. Interesting to see, no doubt.

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Photos

Deok Su Gung Palace
This is the main gate where we witnessed the changing of the guard.

Very Colourful
The colours for the undersides of all the roofs were amazing. The shape and design, plus the way in which they have been painted is very interesting.

Old Meets New
In this pic its a little hard to see the "older" traditional buildings, but they are there! The white building to the left kind of looked like the White House. It was used in the early 1900's for foreign guests during the Great Korean Empire.

Main Hall
This pic shows the main hall of Deoksugung Palace. The courtyard in the foreground is designed for specific spots for military officals to stand during official meetings.

Fit for a King
This is inside the Main Hall. This seat is where the King would sit when visiting.

Fit for a King 2
My flash worked better in this picture. You can see the roof and the painted colours more clearly.

Changing of the Guard
Pretty self explanatory. The guys in the middle wearing black had HUGE fake mustaches/facial wear.

Missiles and Kim Jong
This picture was taken by the City Hall rally/protest.

Comments

[Rich]

Chunk the Trunk
Travel blog eh....and it only blogs travel..... i guess that's kinda cool.

[David Pearce]

Chucky in Korea
LOL The title sounds like some movie name. Well by the sounds of it , your practically are living in a movie. Its nice to see you experiencing all this new stuff and very interesting to hear about. Keep the blog up to date cause I definitately enjoy reading and viewing it. Well I hope all is still well and to hear from you soon. Have fun chucky and if your there for a year maybe some of us can visit you and kovats (tell him I said knifey mcblade says what up lol) ya so how much is a ticket out there? Take care man Dp