a lecture, a strike, and a walk around Seoul

Yesterday morning we heard a 3 hour lecture on the Korean War. It was very interesting and depressing. I knew next to nothing about this war before the lecture, and now I feel like I have a lot more background. I wish I had been a history major in college!

Yesterday also began a strike against the FTA in Seoul. We couldn't get into the palace where we wanted to go (Changdeok-gung), so we walked around and did a little shopping instead. Here are some articles about the strike:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/02/28/a_102.php

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/06/24/afx3851629.html

Here are some things we saw on our walk. Below is Korea University (not a fantastic picture, but you can see what a well-kept-up and beautiful campus this is.) We attend the lectures at this university.


Here are a couple of pictures of the city streets in Seoul:



We went to this beautiful vegetarian restaurant for lunch. Here's the gorgeous-looking and delicious-tasting food. It was called "Korean Temple Cooking" and we sat on the floor. I really liked the lotus flower lamps.



There was this great fountain in a plaza in downtown Seoul where tons of children gleefully awaited the sprinklers to come on every few minutes.




Here's a mural that shows the Seoul Tower on the top of Namsun Peak as well as the Hangang River. The mural is made up of tiny photographs, as shown below.



Coming up next... My hike at Bukhansan National Park!!!