The next day we got started early and walked for about three minutes north of our hotel to get to the second palace we wanted to visit, the UNESCO world heritage site, Changdeokgung Palace (창덕궁). We got 10:30 am tickets for the Secret Garden tour and then wandered around the grounds, walking around many different buildings within the palace walls, which are all smaller in scale than Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), but we thought, more beautiful (and still the site of many k-dramas I’ve seen!).
In the Secret Garden, our guide took us to see the first set of buildings set over and beside a small square pond, which is the setting for a great K-drama, ‘Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung’. I took a million photos and had K and R take pictures of me in front of my favourite spots from the show! So cool! Next we toured around another, much larger lake, and a set of buildings that included servants quarters, horse stables, and a main building – which was used for holding gatherings and had under-floor heating!
Then we took a short path through a small wood to a curved pond that featured a small, fan shaped structure right by the water that was the backdrop for scenes from a k-drama I’ve not seen, about zombies, called ‘Kingdom’, which I may now have to watch!
For lunch, we went to Onjisim Ikseon Cafe, where we had the best French toast we’ve ever had! A short subway and bus ride later and we arrived at the base of N Seoul Tower, which is at the top of one of Seoul’s tallest hills, and has great views of the city. We took the elevator to the top of the tower which has even better, 360 views, and was a lot of fun!
After a short break to shower and rest at the hotel, we walked a few steps to Vegan Insa, where we had the most fantastic dinner!!! R had soy fried chicken, K had the vegan Japchae set, and I had the grilled plant based meat wrap set, that came with lettuce and perilla leaves to make my wraps. I’d seen perilla leaves in k-dramas but never had them and was so happy to get the chance to. They’re bright green, pear shaped leaves that have an incredible earthy, minty, fresh flavour that’s really complex and added such a wonderful taste to the dish.
After dinner we walked to the amazing Cheonggyecheon Stream that meanders for 10 km across the top part of Seoul, just below the Royal Palaces. Originally a natural waterway dating back hundreds of years, it was made into a covered highway in the 1970s, and restored in 2005. The stream is now banked by walking trails, stepping stones and all kinds of trees and plants that make it just gorgeous to walk along. There are little fish in the stream and steps at various points where you can dip your feet in or just sit and listen to the gurgling water. Because it’s set below street level, the sounds of the city are a little removed so it’s this amazing oasis in a big, bustling metropolis. And when you walk under any of its many bridges you can hear the flow of cars and trucks overhead, which is really cool.
At one point, K beckoned us over to check out a temporary art exhibit installed under one of the bridges. It featured colourful video artwork displayed on long swath of cloth sitting just below the surface of the water, and spilling onto the steps leading up from the stream, the walls, and the ceiling. Much like the TeamLab installations we saw in Tokyo last year, the artwork was set to music and sounds, and featured fish darting though water, waves crashing against a shore, people in Joseon-era clothing walking through the countryside, birds flying through a lush, green landscape. It was mesmerizing and we sat on cushioned steps for a few minutes, taking it all in, huge smiles on our faces.
It was hard to leave Cheonggyecheon Stream, but we know we’ll be back. We’ll have more opportunities to explore other parts of it on the last leg of our Korean trip. After our week on Jeju Island…
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