63 Building Seoul

        On Saturday morning I made the trip to Seoul to check out the 63 Building which is also known as Yuksam Building. It was given the name 63 building because it is supposed to be 63 stories tall but it is actually only 60 stories tall as three of its stories are underground. When it was first constructed it was the tallest building in Seoul but there are now two taller buildings in Seoul, the 69 story Mokdong Hyperion in Yangcheon and the 73 story Tower Story in Gangnam. The 63 Building stands out not just because of its size but its exterior gold color. It was a cloudy day today in Seoul this morning so I did not bother to check out the observation deck on the top floor which apparently has outstanding views of Seoul and helps to give you an appreciation of just how big Seoul is.


       The two biggest attractions within the building are the 63 Wax Museum and the 63 Aquarium. There is also a Sky Art Museum and an IMAX theater so maybe I'll go back and check those out some other time when I go back to check out the observation deck hopefully on a sunnier day.

       The 63 Wax Museum was a bit pricey at 13,000 won but it's worth checking out once if you're looking for something rather unique to check out in Seoul beyond just palaces and temples. I'm not sure where else you could go in Korea to see Queen Elizabeth, Tiger Woods, President Obama, and James Dean all at the same time! The rest of the pictures can be found on Facebook.

       The 63 Aquarium was a little more expensive at 15,000 won. This was actually the first large scale aquarium built in Korea, but it really doesn't compare to a lot of the more recent aquariums that have been built over the last few years especially the one built in Busan. The rest of the pictures of the aquarium can be found on Facebook.


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Two Palaces, a Prison, and a Temple

On Sunday I went to four different places in Seoul- Gyeonghuigung Palace, Seodaemun Prison, Unhyeongung Palace, and Jogyesa Temple.

Gyeonhuigung Palace was originally built over six years between 1617 and 1623. It was constructed as a detached royal villa, where kings of the Joseon Dynasty stayed during their daily excursions. During the Japanese occupation most of the structures within the Palace were destroyed and the Palace was diminished to half of its original size. In 1980 the site of the Palace was designated a Historic Site and in turn the Seoul Metropolitan Government excavated the old site to restore its major structures so it is much smaller than it originally was. In 2002 it was opened to the public. The pictures above are a sample of pictures I took there with the rest of them posted on Facebook. It's a nice place but not nearly as impressive as a lot of the bigger temples in Seoul.

Seodaemun Prison was the most notorious of the prisons built by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 - 1945. It's kind of an eerie place to visit with the small prison cells and the imposing red bricks of the buildings and the prison walls themselves. It had seperate and distinct buildings for lepers and for executions as well. After Korea gained independence from Japan the Korean government in turn used the prison itself to imprison political dissidents and protestors. Korea did not become a true democracy until 1980 so although it was initially built and used by the Japanese later the Korean government used it imprisoning its own citizens. It was opened to the public as the Seodaemun Prison History Hall in 1988. The first picture above is the entrance to the prison. The second picture is the Execution Building while the poplar tree in front of it on the left is referred to as the "wailing tree", on account of the large number of prisoners who clung to it as a last means of resistance crying and pleading before being taken into the Execution Building. The third picture is of the Corpse Removal Exit where bodies were disposed of in secret. On a side note the tunnel actually runs under a huge apartment complex next door which has been kept as a secret from the general population. The rest of the pictures can be found on Facebook.

Unhyeongung Palace was the house in which King Gojong, the 26th king of Joseon lived before he acceded to the throne. It was originally built in 1864 and was repaired in 1996.The rest of the pictures of Unhyeongung can befound on Facebook.

The last place I visited on Sunday was Jogyesa Temple. This is the headquarters of the Jogye sect which is Korea's largest Buddhist denomination. It was built in 1910. The rest of the pictures can be found on Facebook.

Also this past week I saw the Immortals movie with Mickey Rourke which was a great movie. If you loved 300 you'll like this as well.



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