December 25th, 2019
We are at the Gyeongbokgung Palace
First surprise of the day, the visit is free today.
Because today is the last Wednesday of the month. And it means it's Cultural Day here in Korea.
So this is a regroupment of palaces, that were build during the Joseon dynasty.
From 1392 to 1910.
It was destroyed in 1592 and rebuilt in 1867, and then re-destroyed during the Japanese occupation.
- Until the 1950
- Yes until 1945
In 1915, 90% of the buildings were demolished,
Since then, they've restored all of it.
So, first we're gonna watch the Guard change at the entrance of the Palace.
Little tip, if you come here by subway, you must know that you get out after the first door.
You would get out in the first courtyard.
So the guard exchange is in front of the first door, not the second one like we thought.
The Guard exchange is over,
I am disappointed that when it's over they all leave therefor we didn't take any picture with them.
But it was nice. We feel it is staged though.
It lasts 10 minutes, it's fun, it's nice to watch!
- Worth watching
The outfits are beautiful and authentic, they stand up still... it's a good choreography.
- However they are tired of being photograph
- Yeah there is one that made this face:
He was annoyed.
- In the same time, they need to stand there for 3 hours!
3 hours is fine, we did more.
- So now we are in the first courtyard
We passed the.... where is my paper?
- You had it I don't know.. Let's start the visit
We're gonna pass the last door before the main palace
The door almost has the same name as the palace
This palace is the 223th national tresory.
The palace's name is Guengjeon-jeon
This is the main building
And the meaning of the name is: leading with diligence
The King and his government were ruling mostly from here
This is the most majestic place of the entire palace.
And it symbolizes the King's authority
And we can see it is true. It is huge.
This building was restored completely in 1867.
Because it was damaged by the Japanese in 1592
If you get around the palace you then have access to all the other "houses' of the Royal Family.
- I'm cold cold cold
Eve caught a cold
My throat is killing me.
We'll try to find a hot soup at noon.
Spoiler: we didn't eat soup.
So here, what's interesting is that we have the palace on the other side,
but the King's "active" life was here in those 3 houses.
2 identical houses on the sides (for the eunuchs) and another one in the middle which was the King's house.
So now, we are gonna look at the kitchen and the Prince's residence.
I think this is were the Prince got dressed. At least in the series I'm watching.
- Yeah and the restroom are there
- No! Not at all!
The restroom are somewhere else.
In the series the eunuchs dressed the Prince or the King here.
And here's the kitchen
- Our favorite place!
It's just in front of the Prince's residence.
What is cool is that, once you've past the Palace, there are not a ton of people at all.
They don't care. They did their pictures and they leave. They don't visit everything.
It's a well I think
Yes it was the kitchen's well.
Now we are at the Queen's residence, It's smaller and less majestic than the King's Palace.
But it's bigger than the Prince's residence.
We're leaving the Queen's residence,
and we're headed toward the reception's building,
If you're too tall you must be careful though
We can see it from the other side as well.
- It's gorgeous
We finished our visit
It took us 3-4 hours, now we're gonna rest a little and eat.
That's a shame we didn't see it...
What, what do you wanna see?
The library I'm betting
No it's not!
It's a room with the King's portrait. And also the mortuary chapel.
For the Queen and the Imperatrice
So right now you will see whose ruling this couple
If the next scene is the paintings it's her and if it's food it mean it's me.
So we're looking for the restaurant
This street is so cute!
That's so great that by looking for restaurant we found some really cute alleyways
It's here? Right?
- Yes yes
They have hummus! And ratatouille
Everything looks tasty
Vegan Lasagna! You don't want that?
- I want everything
We can see her cook behind you
- And she's by herself.
I found the place on happycow actually. Because it was close from the Palace.
And we went through a nice market
and the little streets we don't usually see.
It's so cute here!
We immediately feel welcomed once we're inside
The place isn't stunning, but it's warm and cozy.
So we took some vegan burgers. It looks amazing
I don't even try to imagine how the hummus will be.
Delicious. It's deligious.
You're shocked
It's perfect.
- The burger is bug
- Small and big at the same time
There is hummus inside and usually I don't really like that but let's see.
It's good!
- I know
And I don't like hummus usually.
When you see this you just wanna eat it completely.
It really is good.
Those are new flavours to me.
Because we're fat, we took hummus wraps as well.
And this is a meal that we could eat at home actually
But let's taste
We can taste burgers at home as well and it still taste something else entirely.
Yes, the burgers are top notch!
Better than the rainbow (restaurant in Tel-Aviv)
So?
Wait I didn't taste it entirely.
It doesn't taste like hummus. More like puree.
Maybe the hummus is somewhere else inside
- No I did
- Let's tell her we come from Hummusland
I'm sure she did the hummus herself
- You think it's handmade?
Yes I think
She does everything herself, I'm sure.
She must spend so much time inside the kitchen
Look, it doesn't look like hummus
Not the one we know
It's another handmade hummus
- eat eat
Really good
Everything tasted good
Puree texture with all the sidedishes
It's sweet.
Indeed it's not like the hummus at home
- Yes that's what I said.
Feels like something smashed. It's good!
This is the place.
- So cute and warm
Jahamoon street
it's like eating at her place.
She is alone, doing all by herself !
She is cooking alone and she is using her own recipes. We saw her book of recipes.
Recipes that she has perfected.
She must have improved her recipes bit by bit.
But the Hamburger was delicious and I've never tasted this kind of flavors !
We came by this way. There is a market over there and the restaurant is really at the entry of the market on the left.
There is a little sign : "VEGAN CAFE".
We are not vegan, we are just vegetarian but it is really really really delicious !
The "steak" and everything was so tasty !
What amaze me is that she is doing all by herself !
I really admire her for that !
You saw the water jar on the entrance where we have to get water there by ourselves.
She also has to check it and to fill it every time.
I mean it's like a lot of little things that she has to manage all by herself.
It's crazy like we are eating and we can see her in her kitchen making all of the dishes, the cakes, her chocolate scones.
It's really impressing !
It was excellent !
We recommend it 100 percent !
Yes ! I just want everyone to come here.
Not all at once because she may be overwhelmed !
Come one by one !
Yeah, she deserves it !
I have seen more doors here than during our  two weeks trip in Tokyo !
I went through more doors here than in my entire life!
okay
Can you imagine if we have to put Mezzuzot at every door?
