Going to the Palace

This weekend kicks off the month of vacation. Yipeee!!! This weekend also was the first time in a while that we have been able to withstand the cold for more than 5 minutes. It has finally begun to warm up during the day. When I mean warm up, we are looking at a drastic temperature change from 20 - 46. It seriously feels like a heat wave.

We decided to commemorate this weekend by heading to a nearby palace. Nearby being the operative word...mmm.....maybe not. We took a 45 minute bus ride, which was the most crowded bus ride either of us have ever endured. I actually had an ajuma leaning against me and tugging on either my arm or purse strap whenever the bus came to an abrupt halt. Not only was I supporting my body weight, but an additional 80lb Korean. Which may not seem like a lot, but for a solid 40 minutes is quite the unexpected workout.

We finally made it to the palace. They were having a guard change demonstration. It was pretty cool. This palace, who knows who it belongs to??? Everything is in Korean, so it can be fun at times to make up your own story. This place is basically a massive compound. Fun for a nice stroll, but after an hour you're ready to go. Patrick didn't want to leave because he thought our bus ride took longer than the actual time we spend walking. I assured him that was not the case.

Above is a picture of the guard change taking place. Below is a picture with something and a pretty mountain.


As we left we tried to cut under the subway and found several police officers in combat gear telling us we couldn't go inside. Huh? Korea is by far one of the least dangerous places in the world, so you can understand why we are a bit perplexed by the situation. It looked like the police were gearing up for a possible assassination to take place. Turns out there was a meeting at the National Assembly with some rebel leaders. Nothing serious.....I guess the potential protesters saw the policeman's shield. We thought it was in our best interest to not get a snapshot of them.

On Sunday we decided to continue being adventurous outside and went up a large hill the Olympic Taekwondo Training Facility. We thought it would be cool to work out with the best in Korea before heading to some BBQ for dinner.



Here I'm trying to show Patrick how to build definition in the arms like Michelle Obama. Patrick is demonstrating how to swivel to achieve that defined waistline while capturing the sunset. He should start his own infomercial.



It was a good weekend!!