Ashley and Taylor in Korea: Happy 추석 Part 3

Google even knows how to celebrate with a traditional Korean spread. I can't explain everything in the picture, but I know that a lot of it is made from rice!

We came back to Seoul on Monday and were so thankful not to be stuck in crazy traffic. All of our Korean friends thought we were crazy when we said we were traveling during Chuseok. Bus and train tickets were selling out, not to mention all the people with cars of their own. We were warned that what was normally about a 3 hour drive to Sokcho would probably take us somewhere between 6-10 hours with all the traffic. We decided to think of it as hurricane traffic leaving Houston, which Chris and JB had already experienced and we went anyway. Well, guess what- no traffic! On the way there and on the way back. So take that Korea! We ran into a few minutes of slow traffic right on the edge of Seoul but it didn't really delay our trip at all. Maybe everyone heard about the coming typhoon and cancelled their plans toward the coast. Our hotel even gave us like a $10 refund because of "bad weather." How often do you hear of that happening? If anything, you'd think they'd hold on to every dollar since people were cancelling their reservations.

So after a rainy weekend, Monday turned out pretty nice. We even got some sunshine. Once back in Seoul we headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace- the main and largest royal palace built by the Joseon Dynasty.

First we stopped at Gwanghwamun Square to take pictures. Gwanghwamun Square is right in front of the palace. It has a fun little water area for kids and a statue/museum in honor of the great King Sejong. He developed the Korean alphabet (Hangul) and did many other important things for the nation.