Kyoto

Happy Holidays!

Beautiful foliage at Toji Temple

My hope is to post to this blog once a week, but it's turning out to be more like once a month, BOO! It's almost resolution time... any guessing as to what one of mine will be?

Ok! Kyoto! Jackson and Jacob had a week off from school over Thanksgiving so I forced Joe to take a few days off also, basically so the boys and I wouldn't go crazy at the house or figuring out what to do around Tokyo. We had an amazing week on our trip and a fantastic time at our first destination, Kyoto. We arrived around 2pm and instead of resting and relaxing in our great little hotel room near the station, this "slave driver" as Joe lovingly referred to me, found the nearest Buddhist Temple and off we went. We found Toji Temple, which was beautiful. As one of my friends stated, "we hit the timing perfectly" to see all of the beautiful red, orange and yellow foliage. We saw a huge five-story pagoda and other ancient structures there, all were breathtaking among the beautiful backdrop of not only the trees, but ponds full of koi and zen gardens also. Very zen, indeed.

Five-story pagoda at Toji Temple

One of the koi ponds at Toji Temple

After that, we walked in the direction of an aquarium and a locomotive museum only to come across a massive park called Umekoji Park that housed them both. There were hundreds of kids playing on the playground equipment and running around and even I, the slave driver, couldn't resist letting our boys join in on the fun. They loved one slide in particular and it was a lot of fun for Joe and I too, watching them interact with the other children and with each other, looking out for one another, while going up and then down that slide.

J&J on the slide at Umekoji Park

Just as we were all getting hungry, we spotted a restaurant called Bossche. The sign outside said, "Bossche" obviously and it also said, Frenth Toast. That's not a typo. Frenth. Yes, oh yes, that is the place we are eating tonight! We thought it was hilarious, while being very grateful to Bossche for having any English on the sign at all; whether it be French Toast or Frenth Toast, we knew it was going to be good! No surprise, it was! And the boys loved eating Frenth Toast for dinner, too.

Best Frenth Toast ever!

Day 2 in Kyoto began with a bus ride to the beautiful Ginkakuji Temple. I think Ginkakuji Temple was my favorite temple of the whole trip. It was so breathtakingly beautiful with all the red Japanese Maple leaves, the perfectly manicured zen gardens, the ponds, the bamboo, the moss-covered rocks; oh my gosh, I really could go on and on. Two college-age guys approached us and asked if they could give us a tour of the temple since it would give them a chance to practice their English. Since we wanted to learn more about Ginkakuji Temple and we are all about helping students better themselves academically (on a Sunday!), of course we said, sure! Feast your eyes...

The beautiful grounds of Ginkakuji Temple

I found Mt. Fuji in Kyoto!

More of the gardens

A mossy pathway at Ginkakuji Temple

Bamboo graden at Ginkakuji Temple

The Temple through the trees

Us with our awesome tour guides and Ginkakuji Temple

From Ginkakuji Temple, a World Heritage Site, we walked roughly 1.75 miles on "Philosopher's Walk" seeing two more temples along the way. We passed by Eikan-do Temple and briefly stopped at Nanzen-ji Temple. The thing about hitting the timing perfectly to see the beautiful Fall colors is that, everyone else wants to see them at that time too! So the path that was Philosopher's Walk was really crowded! While the walk was very pretty, it wasn't exactly the serene experience we were hoping for.

All of us on Philosopher's Walk

After that, we caught a train to the modern Gion shopping area and walked along blocks and blocks of covered streets lined with shops.

Gion

After eating some lunch and exploring Gion, we walked to Kyoto Station which, which had a giant Christmas tree lit up and an illumination on 12 stories of outdoor stairs. It was so cool! From there, we walked toward our hotel and found a delicious ramen shop nearby... dinner!

Kyoto Tower near Kyoto Station

Merry Xmas from Kyoto!

The illumination on the stairs at Kyoto Station

We began day 3 in Kyoto similar to day 2 in that we hopped on a bus from Kyoto Station. This time we headed about an hour north to Sanzen-in Temple. The quaint pathway from the bus station to Sanzen-in Temple was lined with shops selling homemade jams and pickles, Japanese souvineirs, and Buddhist prayer beads and cafes serving traditional Japanese foods like steaming hot udon noodles, tempura, rice and mochi, which is hammered rice made into like gummy dough balls. So good! There was even a post office that sold special stamps! Pen pals, look be on the lookout for some fancy new stamps! We had a nice time at this temple taking off our shoes and entering the simple temple and then exploring the grounds. I loved all the little Buddha statues hidden under the moss. There were also rows and rows of small statues of Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of compassion, that I thought were really cool.

Gazing at the pretty zen garden from the Sanzen-in Temple

Jacob and Jackson's zen moment at the Sanzen-in Temple

Little Buddhas in the moss and leaves

Statues of Avalokitesvara

After taking the bus back to Kyoto Station, we realized there are only so many zen gardens that a two year old and a three year old can take. Kicking and picking up pebbles are usually no big deal where ever we are, except in a zen garden obviously where everything is perfect thanks to hours and hours of hard work by meticulous Buddhist monks. (We are sorry for messing up your gardens, Buddhist monks!) So, we decided to take the boys to the park again. After all, it's their vacation, too! Boy, they had a great time.

My zen moment at Umekoji Park

It's on to Osaka next.

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Halloween in Tokyo

Hi!

Jacob and his pumpkin snowman

I know some of you have been wondering if they celebrate Halloween here in Japan. And the short and simple answer is, yes! There have been and will be several activities that we did in the US, traditions like visiting a pumpkin patch in the Fall, trick-or-treating on Halloween, and pictures with Santa in early December, to name a few, that I have had to seek out in order to continue them here.

Back home in the Fall, we liked visiting a pumpkin patch to see all the different pumpkins and then buying a few to carve for Halloween. The only pumpkin patch I found here was more like a giant playground full of pumpkins, which was such a fun and different experience for the boys! Because the real estate to grow things like giant pumpkins is hard to find around Tokyo, the pumpkins were flown in (or shipped in?) from the less populated area of Hokkaido, an island in Northern Japan. So even though we couldn't buy the pumpkins from this patch, Jackson and Jacob had such a wonderful time, climbing on, pushing, rolling, and gently kicking the pumpkins around. They even built a pumpkin snowman! And we were able to get some great Fall photographs to add to our collection of yearly pumpkin patch pics and continue to build our tradition. In case you were wondering, we ordered our pumpkin from a local florist to make our Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween!

Jackson and a giant pumpkin

As for the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating, several businesses on a street near our home had trick-or-treating on Halloween. Since Halloween fell on a Friday, we sent Jackson and Jacob to school in their chosen costumes (a fitting police officer for Jackson, he is a real rule-enforcer these days, and a firefighter for Jacob) and they trick-or-treated with their teachers and classmates on this street in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, we all had a fun Halloween party at school including apple-bobbing, a magic show and lots of delicious food.

Halloween fun at school

My Jackson Boy and me

You can only trick-or-treat in certain neighborhoods here, as it is not the norm for everyone to hand out candy. These neighborhoods are full of other Expats and their willing Japanese neighbors.  I wasn't sure what to expect exactly when we ventured out, so I was surprised to see hundreds or maybe even thousands of costume-cladded children and their parents out trick-or-treating in these neighborhoods. Some of the houses were so decked out to celebrate the holiday (can you see the blow-ups in the background of the picture of Jackson and me?)! This particular house even had American candy, like Butterfingers, Twix, and Almond Joy! I was ecstatic as the Halloween candy here consists mostly of "frosting"-covered rice crackers and other seemingly healthy snacks, haha, when all I wanted were delicious preservatives and SUGAR! When I inquired as to where they got the candy, they told me they got it on their latest trip to Guam! Of course they got it in an American territory! We didn't trick-or-treat for very long since both boys were so exhausted from all of the excitement that day. In fact, Jacob fell asleep in the stroller before we even got to the trick-or-treating neighborhood and Jackson only lasted another hour after his brother. Overall, we all had a blast and again, we were able to carry on our traditions.

Enjoying their Halloween spoils

We are headed to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Kobe (all south of Tokyo) on Saturday for a week so in my next post, I will tell you all about our adventures there!

Until next time, I'm sending lots of love!

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Kawaguchiko and the Grand Mt. Fuji

Hi again!

I'm usually such a planner, of trips, daily tasks, lifetime goals, but one Thursday last month, I decided to book a room in the town of Kawaguchiko, at the base of Mt. Fuji, for the upcoming weekend. Why the sudden spontaneity? I'll tell you why! Because I had never seen Mt. Fuji. You may be asking yourself, "what the heck are you talking about? Didn't you climb it in August?" The answer is yes, I climbed it. Let me tell you, my feet saw that elusive mountain, but I had never seen picturesque Mt. Fuji in it's grandness because the weather that day was so cloudy/foggy/rainy. I needed to "see" this mountain I climbed. This mountain that made such an impact on me.

My first sight of Mt. Fuji, from the train

So, off we went to Kawaguchiko, which was about an hour and a half away by express train. To be honest, I booked a room because I was nervous that the weather was going to be bad once again and I wouldn't be able to see Mt. Fuji... again. Turns out, that was unnecessary. Guess what I saw from the train? The beautiful, the grand, the majestic, the not-so-elusive-anymore, Mt. Fuji. I was so overjoyed that I finally got to see it, and also so proud of myself seeing how tall it is and knowing that I stood on the very top of it. With a huge smile and tears streaming down my face, I said to Joe, "we can go home now".

Have you ever had one of those days that no matter what happened, nothing was going to bring you down? After seeing Mt. Fuji, I was on cloud nine. I'm so happy we didn't go home. We arrived in Kawaguchiko after I was able to stare at Fuji san for another 30 minutes, it just got grander and grander the closer we got, and after a lunch consisting of a delicious hot pot of noodles exclusive to Kawaguchiko, we walked 15 minutes to Lake Kawaguchiko where my three boys proceeded to throw rocks into it for a good two or three hours. I found such joy in seeing them have so much fun doing something so simple. As dusk was approaching, we walked across a beautiful bridge (see the photograph above) to the other side of the lake where our hotel was located. Mt Fuji was behind us so it probably took twice as long as it would have to walk that distance because I had to turn around every few feet to "see" it, just because I could.

Enjoying our time at Lake Kawaguchiko

The next morning, I decided I was most definitely going to go for a jog around the lake so I could admire Mt. Fuji some more. I woke up bright and early, put on my running shoes and off I went while Joe and the boys slept. I was breathless before I even started. It was somehow a clearer day than the day before and I was in awe of this great volcano. I didn't make it far when I could see the reflection of Mt. Fuji in the lake. Some people might think, 'wow, that's pretty cool, but it's kind of like all the other mountains I've seen' but to me, the coolness was on another level. Not only is Mt. Fuji beautiful, but it represents a personal journey for me, in so many ways, so this one is so very meaningful to me. I practically sprinted back to the room to get the guys so they could also share in the awesomeness that was Mt. Fuji on that morning. We are all so glad I did.

I was riiiiiight... there!

Such a beautiful sight

I can't wait to go back to Kawaguchiko again to admire and get some photographs of snow-covered Mt. Fuji.

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Sumo

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted again, oh man! But enough about that, let me tell you about sumo!

SUMO

I've always wanted to go to a Sumo tournament to see the sumo wrestlers in action, so when I saw that the tournament was in Tokyo, I bought a ticket for a single day (the tournament lasts all day from 9am - 6pm for two full weeks) and went to check it out! The arena was practically empty when I arrived around 11am, but it filled to the max capacity around 4pm. The reason being, there are many different ranks of sumo wrestlers and the simple explanation is that the amateur wrestlers competed in the morning, followed by the intermediate levels wrestlers in the afternoon, and then the professional athletes in the late afternoon. I didn't care who was competing, to be honest, I was interested in the way they competed. Before their match, the sumo wrestlers sat on a mat on the side of the ring. Once it was time to compete, they entered the ring and they both did a series of symbolic movements, most of the time in unison. They rub their hands, clap them, then move their arms outward to their sides, palms up, and then place them on their knees. From there, they lift up each leg (so high for some!) and slam it down. (If you are lucky enough to be my mom or my sister, you have seen these very movements demonstrated for you, by yours truly, over Skype). If you don't know the background about sumo, this may seem odd! But these specific movements are deeply rooted in about 2000 years of tradition, purifying themselves and telling the gods they are unarmed and ready to sumo. Another part of the tradition, is that the wrestlers themselves are taught to be extremely disciplined, respectful, and honest, which I got to experience first-hand (read on!). After all of the movements, the sumo wrestlers throw salt on themselves as well as the ring, also as purification acts. Then they crouched down on lines in the center of the ring and then, SUMO! Sometimes the wrestling took a few minutes and more often, only a few seconds. Most of the time, the preparation took longer than the actual wrestling! It was all so exciting to watch!

I stayed for about 5 or 6 hours and then went to pick up Jackson and Jacob from school, where I proceeded to tell everyone about how cool my experience was. For once, my chatty demeanor paid off! One of the teachers at the boys' school has connections to the sumo wrestlers and asked Joe and I if we'd like to accompany her to a celebratory dinner on the last day of the tournament. Are you kidding?! YES! So about 10 days later, we went to dine with the sumo wrestlers!

Joe and I with Hakuho san

We arrived and were sat at a table near the front of the room, thanks to Masami Sensei! (the teacher), while platter after platter of food was placed on our table. Soon, about 10 sumo wrestlers of varying rank, including the Yokozuna, or Grand Champion, Hakuho is his name, entered the room. Sumo wrestlers are like celebrities in Japan and in fact, the Yokozuna = Hakuho, is said to be touched by a god. So everyone was in awe, including Joe and me. Hakuho won his 31st tournament just a couple of hours prior to the dinner, so we were all mesmerized by him. There were many congratulatory speeches, all in Japanese, of course, which were fun to listen to and hear the crowd respond to, and then Hakuho himself spoke. Even though we couldn't understand a word he said, I instantly picked up on the fact that Hakuho is very humble, respectful, and just plain nice. He must truly be making the sumo gods proud! We were lucky enough to get a picture with him, another big thank you to Masami Sensei, and I was so giddy just to stand next to him! (He's really cute, too!) All in all, I was able to check another thing off my bucket list while having a wonderful time and learning so much about the sport of sumo wrestling. Because as I like to say, when in Rome...

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Shimoda

Hi there!

This guy loved the beach!

This is the last post before you are up to date on our happenings in Japan! Ok, let's talk about Shimoda, this cute little beach town about 2-3 hours south of Tokyo by train that we decided to travel to during Joe's week off from work in mid-August. We booked our room at the White Beach Inn, which is located directly across the street from the beautiful Ohama Beach, about a month in advance and were ready for some rest and relaxation on the beach. The only problem was that when we arrived a typhoon warning was in full effect. At that point, that meant that we could walk on the beach but couldn't go in the ocean. And for good reason! The waves were HUGE and the water came much farther up the beach than usual and with the kiddos in tow, we wouldn't want to get near the water. So we spent time exploring the town the first day.

Jacob and Daddy and the huge waves on this side of the Pacific

The weather was nice even with the typhoon nearing, so we walked around the cute little downtown area and explored Perry Road, named after Commodore Matthew Perry, who in 1854, formally opened Japan to the West after many years of isolation. There we discovered buildings that have been preserved since the 1850's to look just as they did to Commodore Perry. Inside them though, were nice clothing and antique shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. We also rode the Shimoda Ropeway which is a tram that took us essentially from the train station in Shimoda to the park at the top of Mt. Nesugata. We all had a wonderful time exploring all the attractions there. We walked through beautiful gardens, saw a Japanese horned beetle exhibit (which interested all of the boys, but definitely not me!), looked out over the ocean, visited a shrine to Ragaraja, the Buddhist deity of love, who I just have to say is the scariest-looking Buddha I've seen (I thought that was odd seeing he is the deity of love!), and took a long hike around the mountain. This by far made up for the fact that the beach was semi-closed. In fact, this is a must-see if we go back to Shimoda!

Perry Road

The view from the top of Mt. Nesugata

Buddhas dedicated to the safety of children near the shrine to Ragaraja

The next day, the beach was completely closed, which meant no one was even allowed on the sand, let alone in the ocean. We were bracing for the typhoon to hit, so we stayed near or in our hotel. Even though it was raining off and on, we were still able to walk around and find crabs and Jackson and Jacob were able to enjoy the kiddie pool the hotel had set up on its grounds.

I got so much joy out of watching
Jackson play in the sand

The following day we woke up to discover the typhoon had weakened and also traveled north of Shimoda and that the beach was open! We were surprised and so happy! The sun was out and we were ready for that R&R I was talking about! We rented an umbrella and enjoyed our last two days in Shimoda on the sandy beach. The water was a different story. The lifeguards were being, cautious, so they set up two flags about 50 yards away from each other on the beach. If you wanted to enter the water above ankle-deep, you had to be between those two flags. There were hundreds of people between the flags! I guess it made sense since the waves were still pretty big but it was hard to enjoy our time in the water with so many people in such close proximity. Instead, we walked along the beach picking up cool seashells that the strong tide had brought in the day before, buried each other in the sand, took naps and read books. We also found this AMAZING little taco hut near the beach that we ate at at least 4 or 5 times during our time in Shimoda. Mexican food is difficult to find here in Japan and the tacos and burritos (and margaritas) were so good!

Ohama Beach, Shimoda

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Home and Back, Kamakura and Hanabi

Hello!

Happy birthday, Jacob!

Even though we traveled back to the US for three wonderful weeks in June, I won't go into much detail about our trip. After all, most of you live there and we even got to see some of you, woo hoo! So just a short recap: we flew on the nonstop 787 Dreamliner from Narita International Airport in Tokyo to Denver International. We spent a few days in Denver recovering from jet lag and catching up with good friends. Then we went to Colorado Springs to visit Joe's amazing parents and to celebrate Jacob's second birthday. Jackson and Jacob had so much fun swimming in the kiddie pool, while the adults relaxed in the backyard. Then it was on to Rapid City, SD to see my awesome parents. We had such a wonderful time and I know Grandpa and Grandma B did too when I said, "ok, I'll see you later!", and I went shopping or to have dinner with girlfriends while they looked after the little dudes. I'm convinced that my boys have the absolute BEST grandparents in the world on both sides. After spending about a week in South Dakota, we headed back to Colorado where we saw Joe's family again before flying out to Texas to see my brother, Lucas, get married. It was the most beautiful wedding! He married a great girl named, Reyne, and we were so happy to welcome her to our family. They were both so truly happy. From there, we flew back to Denver, stayed the night at a hotel near the airport and the next day we flew back to Japan. Whew! So even though we were in the US about three weeks total, we spent a lot of time traveling! I wouldn't have had it any other way, as long as we were able to see our loved ones.

Buddhist temple in Kamakura

Ok, back to life in Japan. Our first trip out of Tokyo, once we were settled in again, was to a town called Kamakura. It's such a cute little town; it reminds me of a Keystone, South Dakota or a Manitou Springs, Colorado, if you're familiar with either of those towns. There was one main street lined with shops where you can get nice souvenirs and little restaurants where you can find all kinds of different cuisine. At the end of the street, was a Buddhist temple. The temple was beautiful, they always are, but the main attraction was about two miles in the opposite direction, because there in sits the Great Buddha. Standing (sitting) at over 13 meters (44 ft) tall and weighing in at 121 tons (267,000 pounds), the bronze cast of Buddha is great indeed. The sculpture's story is pretty cool, too. It was built in 1252 and has survived many natural disasters. You can read more about it below. (I'm not sure why the format is funny, but I wanted to make sure the picture was big enough so you can read it.)

The Great Buddha

Side view of the Great Buddha

A sign near the Great Buddha telling its story

Tokyo Skytree

A couple of weeks after we visited Kamakura, we saw the most incredible fireworks (or hanabi, in Japanese) display. Japan has these cool festivals throughout the year to celebrate various events or seasons where there is usually food, music, and men and women dressed in traditional clothing - yukata (similar to a kimono), in the summer time. The festivals in late July across Japan also feature incredible firework displays. The one we attended was near the Sumida River, the river that runs through Tokyo, and also near the Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan (634m or 2080 ft tall). We went early to find a spot on the grass in a nearby park, laid out our blanket and bared the heat to see the display. The hanabi began at 7pm sharp and continued for a full hour and a half. Both Joe and I thought we had seen some cool fireworks before, but nothing compared to these. There were hanabi in all different shapes and colors. Some even had an ombre effect to them where they would light up going from dark to light colored. There were smiley faces and hearts and even Hello Kitty! (Of course none of our photographs do them any justice. The one below was about the only one that is in focus!) They were definitely worth the wait and the heat! When we were visiting Japan last summer, we had tried to check out this same display but they were rained out after 15 minutes because of a torrential downpour (that's a whole other story!). We were happy we went back this year to see the fantastic, full display.

Hanabi

Next stop is a little beach town called Shimoda that we vacationed at in mid-August (the weekend before I climbed Mt. Fuji). Then we are up-to-date!

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Seoul, South Korea

I promised I'd catch you up on what you missed during the last three months (rather, what I neglected to tell you!), so here is a little bit about our trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Namdaemun Market

Insadong (yes, those signs say:
FREE HUG)!

Joe needed to attend a work conference there in early May, so Jackson, Jacob and I decided to tag along. It was a short flight, less than two hours from Tokyo, so no jet lag, yes! Before we left for our trip, I received some invaluable tips from my friend, Angela, whose family is from South Korea and who also studied abroad in Seoul during college, about where to go and what to see. Once we hit the ground, Joe had a day before his conference started so we starting our sight-seeing. First we went to the Namdaemun Market, which is this cool, ancient, outdoor marketplace that has been in existence for over 600 years! You can find almost anything you're looking for there from clothing and shoes to kitchen items to tasty treats. From there we explored a multi-level department store called Shinsegae. We ate authentic Korean BBQ at one of the restaurants inside, grabbed a cool treat at another spot, and let the boys run around in the rooftop park. After that, we went to Insadong, another cool, outdoor shopping area. This was my favorite place we visited in Seoul. The area had a very laid back feel to it and we were able to pick up great souvenirs there.

Prayer lanterns at Jogye Temple

I knew Joe was going to be working almost all of the time we were in Korea, so I was prepared to explore Seoul by myself with the two dudes. Let me just say what a huge fan I am of bus tours. They are the perfect way to check out a new place, especially with kids. I know they are a super touristy thing to do, but I don't have to tell a taxi driver where to go in a foreign language (that I don't know), I don't have to pay for a taxi each time we go to a different place and the tour group leader keeps an eye on us! All while he's explaining Korean history to us! Score! Our first bus tour took us to the Jogye Temple, the Gyeongbok Palace and the National Folk Museum. To the right, you can see the rows and rows of colorful prayer lanterns that were hanging out side of the temple. There were also thousands of white ones in memory of the passengers who were killed in the Korean ferry boat tragedy. Below, is a depiction of what a changing of the guard would have looked like during the Joseon Dynasty (between 1392-1897). Below that, is the actual Gyeongbok Palace. Can you see the pagoda in the background? I was struck by the juxtaposition of my surroundings; an ancient palace, beautiful, rolling, green hills, and skyscrapers. Very cool.

A reenactment of the changing of the guard
ceremony at Gyongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace

A sea turtle at the
Coex Aquarium

Let me tell you a bit about our hotel... We stayed at the beautiful InterContinental Hotel in Gangnam (you know that song, Gangnam Style by Psy? Yep, that's where we were!) The service was excellent and the people were so extremely helpful and forgiving of my sometimes crazy kiddos. Besides that, there was an entire shopping mall, complete with Aquarium (and Starbucks!) in the basement of the hotel! It was amazing because we were wondering what to do on the following rainy day. Jackson and Jacob had a great time checking out the marine life, while I enjoyed my iced chai tea latte. Joe had a bit of time away from the conference that afternoon and wanted to catch up on some zzz's, so while he and the boys napped, I was able to sneak across the street from the hotel to a place called the Bongeunsa Temple. In 2010, I journeyed to the most sacred Catholic cathedrals in Italy; it only took being in this compound of Buddhist temples for a few minutes, for me to realize I was in a place just as spiritual. It was moving to see people, monks included, so deeply practicing their religion. The architecture of the structures and the history of the 1,200 year-old temples were so significant to me. And once again, the compound included almost forest-like land, but was surrounded by skyscrapers.

Inside one of the Buddhist temples
at Bongeunsa

Inside another temple at Bongeunsa

The Great Statue of Maitreya Buddha
32m (105ft) tall

The view from the hill behind the Maitreya Buddha

A pond and gazebo at the
Secret Garden

Feeling rejuvenated, the next day Jackson and Jacob and I jumped on a another bus tour to check out the Changdeok Palace Palace including the Secret Garden and the N Seoul Tower. The Changdeok Palace was the secondary palace where the last king spent much of his hard life before the fall of the Joseon Dynasty. The structures aren't nearly as intricate as they are at the Gyeongbok Palace and the king remained in just one or two rooms instead of living comfortably throughout the compound. The nearby Secret Garden was a place the kings and queens often visited on vacation during the summers to fish and frolic in the sun. It was beautiful, even on a rainy day. Jackson and Jacob enjoyed running around in circles at the top of the N Seoul tower, but I was able to get them to stop for just a second as I snapped this (dark) picture. Only 10,031km (6233 miles) to Denver! At 237m high (777ft), you are able to get a 360 degree panoramic view of Seoul and the surroundings areas, but because it was cloudy and rainy, we weren't able to see quite as far into the distance. It was still great seeing the beautiful city through the clouds. The walls of thousands of colorful "love locks" at the N Seoul Tower were cool to see too! There were many couples, young and old, placing their special love lock onto the wall, making a wish and tossing the key over the edge (even though you're not supposed to!).

Jackson and Jacob at the top of the
N Seoul Tower

Jackson in front of the "love locks"
wall at the N Seoul Tower

Overall, we had a wonderful time in Korea. We explored Seoul, took in some history, did some shopping, and ate some amazing food. We are definitely looking forward to returning there some day.

The next stop, in retrospect, the US: Colorado, South Dakota and Texas.

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL