Seoul, Day 1 - The Hanbok, the Palace, and the City

 Freezing cold, but still freaking awesome...

We got off the plane, dozed in the airport, got some coffee (they really know how to make coffee in Seoul!), and then went to our hotel. I should mention that our hotel was in an area that would be sketchy if it were in a European or American area, but this being Asia, I was unconcerned (and justified in my lack of concern--everything was perfectly fine). 

The cool thing is that we were about one block away from a palace! (I think one of Seoul's nicknames is the "City of Palaces"--apparently, there are a lot.)

But before we could go touring the palace... we went to a hanbok cafe. 

Hanbok, for those of you who don't know, is the Korean traditional outfit. Both men and women wear hanbok, but obviously the women's looks quite different from the men's. 

It's worth mentioning that some things that seem absolutely astonishing to us are really quite cheap in Seoul. It is not an expensive city. These hanbok rentals cost something like $10, plus and extra $5 for doing our hair. To consider the cost difference, consider how much it costs to rent a costume for a Renaissance Faire. 

Anyway... pictures!

Oh yes--after the hanbok cafe, we got into the palace for free. It was literally cheaper to rent the hanbok than it was to get a ticket into the palace, I might add. 

Anyway it was so frigid that I apparently didn't get any pictures of the palace... that, or my phone battery was dying, I don't remember. 

After that first trip to the palace, where it was freezing, we went to a Korean bathhouse to warm up.

Then we spent some time wandering around Seoul:

I have no idea what this was about, but it was easy to spot, so...

Clean and well-painted streets!

Pretty buildings!

This became my favorite Korean coffee shop. The name makes me giggle. 

We saw this out the window of our taxi, so we couldn't stop to see what this was. It was just sitting there in the middle of the city, and it makes such a contrast to the bright new buildings. 

This was a Catholic cathedral. We didn't go inside, because Mass was happening when we got there, but we did stop to take pretty pictures. 

We had a competition to see who could guess when this was built. When we finally found a sign saying when it was built, neither of us was close. 

Okay, this next picture made me smile. It looks like it's part of some super important building, right? 

It's part of a subway station that is also attached to an underground mall. 

And finally, the souvenir I should have bought and am kind of kicking myself for not buying: 

It's a Starbucks teddy bear in a hanbok! 

That was our first day in South Korea, but it was not our last... many more pictures to come!