Korean History Museum

So when you're basically broke, you look for things that are free.  The Korean History Museum is indeed... FREE!  So since J wanted to hit up confession and a Mass in English, we got up at the CRAZY early time of 6:00 (for her) and 6:40 (for me), met up at 7 outside Tirol coffee and headed to the bus stop.  We got on the first one - not surprising since few people are going to Seoul at that time of day - and got to the cathedral at about 7:45.  We got coffee at a shop across the street (because of course we did) then went for confession and Mass.  It was really nice to a) be in the cathedral again and b) have Mass in English.  The priest was kind of funny during the homily, bringing up things like Analyze That and the Nike add, Just Do It.  The word according to Nike... OOOKAY.

The side of the altar that has the confessional - it's to the left of this, in the wall.  It's nice because though you can't hear what someone is saying, it's OBVIOUS when someone is confessing cuz, you know, you can see 'em.

So right after Mass we went to the Korean History Museum.  J and I decided food was in order, so we ended up at a cafe outside the museum.  She got a chicken burger and marshmallow hot chocolate.  I got a blueberry scone and a hazelnut latte.  As we were waiting for our food, I saw this sign and had to take a pic.

... guess it's back to confession, huh?!  LOL!!!

Told you her hot chocolate had a marshmallow!  Didn't believe me, did ya?!  We enjoyed the food.  After we were done, we wandered the outside of the museum for a bit, then headed inside.

 The landscaping is nice.

 BAMBOO!

 A nice little lake and a pagoda.  There was a park, but we were more interested in the museum rather than wandering the park.

 The natural and the not-so-natural.

 FISHY!

 I like these planters and flowers - they were a nice bit of color to offset the white of the stairs.

 Another view of the pagoda.

More flowers.  It was a humid day, but I just love how the city takes care of the flowers.

 Have a guide - we started on the bottom floor and headed up... you know, cuz that makes sense.  Though to be honest, left to my own devices, I would have done the first floor, then the third, then the second.  Cuz you know, gotta change it up every now and then.

 So we start in the early times.

 It was really cool to see cave drawings from the other side of the world.  I mean, I've seen the petroglyphs in the US (looking at you, Castle Gardens), but never really thought of people in Asia doing the same thing.

 Early tools.

 The remains of a boat (just the part in the middle).  J freaked out over how old that must be.

 So many pots and jars and vases.

 So apparently, in J's world, seeing something like this is super awful unless he's named.  She called him 'Bob.'  I doubt that was his name in life, I was a fan of 'Ig' for him...

 And 'Ook' for his representation.  I guess they wanted us to see how people were buried back in the day... knees to chest and all that.

 Then the jewelry... I loved that shell - it looks like the scream, just in shell form.  The things that shell must have experienced!!  Traumatizing, obviously.

 And it doesn't take people long to make weapons, now does it?

 These are Korean blades - the top and bottom are actually different pieces that are then put together.  I'm not sure why, but that's how they made them.

 Necklaces!  And pots/vases.

 More Korean blades.

 More necklaces.  It amazes me that people actually made those tiny friggin' beads so long ago!

 Horse tack doesn't really change much... I'd be able to spot a bit from a mile away!

 So much stuff.

 I thought the duck was funny.

 Have a Buddha.  Buddhism has been in Korea for an extremely long time.  I think it came over from China.

 So this was a alcove of reproductions of art from a tomb.  This was a phoenix.

 Turtle and snake.

 Dragon.

 This was just really pretty.

 We found the gold.  Most of this was probably for royalty... and enjoy the reflections of myself and J.  ;)

 Tile with a dragon...

 Tile with a phoenix.  I thought they were kinda cool.

 Replica of a warrior's armor.

 More necklaces and earrings!  I do love me my jewelry.

 Have a crown.

 How about some armor?

 Yep, we found the gold.

 I'm not totally sure what this was, but it was really big, which made me happy... coming up there's a pic of it from the top that gave J a heart attack... apparently she doesn't really like heights.

 Another Buddha.

 I'm not totally sure what this was, but it reminded me of the thing from Tomb Raider, so I had to take a pic.

 Have a dragon head.

 And a vase!

 Hair pin.

 No, these are not bongs.  Turns out they're water jugs for Buddhist rituals.  We had to google it, because they sure reminded me of... stuff I've seen in... places.  LOL.

 Replica of a throne room from more modern times (1300's, I think).

 The ceiling - I had to get a pic of it, because in all of the palaces I've been to, you could never get close enough to see the ceiling of the throne room.  How cool is this?!?

 More water holders... one is supposed to look like an elephant.

 Have a musical instrument.... not exactly one that you can use in a marching band, huh?

 That sword was taller than J.

 Have some pottery.

 Then on to the calligraphy room.  Here's the tools...

 And the dyes.

 A replica of an artist's room.

 More of the tools of the trade.

 How cool is that?!?

 I loved these - the artistry is truly striking.

 I mean, so cool!!

 The inlays of mother-of-pearl were also striking.

 I want one of these boxes.

 J is such a rebel!!  Do not touch, indeed!!

 Cool dragon pot.

 This is supposed to be a lion... yeah.

 Dragon ceramic.

 Another cool screen.

 I'm not sure who he is or what his problem is... but if ever there was a god of indigestion, I think we found his statue!

 In the India room... I want to be her!

 Have a dog, tiger, and snake.

 China room - I like her.

 From a shipwreck.  Reminded me of going to the steamboat museum with Gma in KC.

 Black pottery, anyone?  For the inner Goth!

 Samurai armor... which reminded me of Kubo and the Two Strings.

 The tower from the top - J was freaking out, thinking I was going to fall over (the barrier was at least 4.5 ft high, I would have had to WORK at falling, FYI).

 Huge wall hanging - 3 stories high.

 The Thinker - in Korea.

 I don't know what these are, but the far one reminded me of one of my blades.

 Have a dragon bell, why don't you?

 I like these kinds of things - the skill it must have taken!

 This was really tiny - the size of a compact.

 At a certain point, toward the end, we just didn't want to see another friggin' VASE!  OR POT, OR ANYTHING VASE OR POT-SHAPED!!!

 So we were hungry by now, and where would go besides Vatos?!?  They changed up their menu (sob) so they don't have the roasted veggie quesadilla anymore.  I got their pineapple bowl, which as you can see is BEAUTIFUL!  And my usual Zonarosa.

J, on the other hand, was skeptical of their mango shrimp quesadilla, and was HUGELY dissappointed that they not only didn't have her usual (roasted veggie) but that they were also out of the virgin sangria (which I still don't think counts since sangria is WINE).  Here's her pouty face.  Now she did really enjoy her quesadilla, and she got a virgin frozen strawberry margarita instead of the sangria and she really liked that, too.  So there's proof for you that change isn't always a bad thing!!! 

She also has a thing against magpies, so when I decided to try a brew from Magpie Brewing co, she had a bit of a moment.  LOL.  The brew was called Summer Summit - it was a nicely balanced IPA.  Not too heavy on the hops, which I appreciated.  I really need to head out to a brewery one of these days (after payday).

So that was our Sunday Funday.  This week has not a lot planned - we're heading to Seoul after work on Friday for a 4th of July celebration, then I think I'm being lazy on Sat and Sun, then each weekend between now and the beginning of August are booked with something.  So I promise, the blog will get more interesting shortly.  In the meantime, it's nice to have a chill month of weekends - I almost feel revived... except I've also got a bit of a case of the blahs.  Stupid FB showing me fun stuff that's going on in R-town right now.  I know it's a while before I need to decide what I'm doing when my contract ends, but the planner in me wants to figure it out NOW!  Sigh.  

Much love to all, will update you this weekend on how Friday goes.