Grand Adventure Day 16: Last Palaces

The rain from the previous day stopped. Originally, I came up with a plan to waste another day hopping from cafe to cafe, drinking coffee and writing. Since the rain stopped, I decided to try to use the last two tickets from the packet I picked up the day I hung out with my cousin. First off, I mixed up the names of the palaces and ended up going to the one we already went to on the previous weekend. After a walk, I made it to the correct palace, Changgyeonggung Palace.

This is what I imagine fall looks like

I bet there was something really cool in there

There was a fire someplace. No, I didn't start it.

Walked around almost the entire palace grounds. I have no idea how big the palace grounds actually were or how they compared to the other 3 I visited, but this one just felt bigger. Also, no I'm not going to do any research. Besides the forest I saw people walking laps in, there was also a lake and a greenhouse (which I don't have good pictures of). Also, there was a fire someplace. I didn't get to see it, though I did smell it and saw the smoke from a ways off. My cousin messaged me later to play the dumb tourist card and try to jump on the fire truck.

The last ticket would get me into Jongmyo Shrine, which was pretty close and apparently I got there right in time. As it is a spiritual place (or was it sacred place, I always get them mixed up, if there is a difference), which ever it is, you'll either need a guide, or you'll need to be in time for one of their group tours based on the language the tour will be conducted. I got there with about 10 minutes until the last tour of the day, which also happened to be in English. So I just hung around until the tour started. If I remember correctly, most, if not all, of the emperors are symbolically enshrined there and rituals are still held there. Before I start giving out more wrong information ... look, here's some pictures

After the tour, I hung around at a nearby park playing Pokemon. Between two stops and a gym, I stumbled upon a Charmander nest! Not joking, there would always be about two or three spawning at a time and almost as soon as I caught one, another would pop up. I would've stayed probably forever, but then my hands started to go numb. Unexpectedly, the weather turned and it just got really, really cold all of a sudden. My brain went into the "how long do you think we can survive out here?" mode while actively debating if it was worth it to keep on playing. Shivering, I made my way back to a train station. Took it to Itaewon to grab a kebab for dinner. I'm really going to miss them, we don't have them back home, or at least not that I know of ... unless you count Arby's since they're selling gyros now which are basically the same thing, right.

Back at the hostel, I met my two new roommates. Oh, I think I also forgot to mention, somehow I managed to have the room all to myself for the past couple of days, just me and three other empty bunks. Both of them were Americans from the military base and here for a nearby metal concert happening right down the street, a group from someplace in Europe. Instead of going with them, I stayed back at the hostel to get a head start on my packing, at which point I spent a half hour looking for a missing slipper, the ones you are supposed to wear around the hostel, not my own slipper. Eventually I found it, packed with my own luggage.