Gyeongbokgung is a royal palace built in 1395. It was the main and largest palace built by the Joseon Dynasty. We purchased our combination ticket for W10,000, which gave us admission to the 4 palaces in Seoul (including the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung) and to Jongmyo. Once the gates opened at 9 am, we entered and turned left to the National Palace Museum of Korea. The museum, which features the royal artifacts, is free. It took us about an hour to see all the exhibits on 3 floors because there was limited English commentary. Beware that the museum is closed on Mondays while Gyeongbokgung is closed on Tuesdays.
You can enter through Gwanghwamun, the main gates to the palace, which opens at 9 am or through the parking lot which opens earlier.
After visiting the museum, we watched the very colorful Changing of the Guards (occurs every hour from
10 am to 4 pm).
The pretend guards had pretend mustaches & pretend beards.
Stand on the side closest to the museum and the main gate. The gates are opened to allow you to continue with the guards outside the gate to view the final portion. The ceremony lasted 15 minutes.
2013 09 18
No comments:
Post a Comment