Gyeongju

I took a nice trip to Gyeongju this weekend. Gyeongju is a small city in the southeast of Korea that once served as the capital to the Silla Dynasty. It was nice to get out of Seoul after a busy January and a vacation where I mostly stayed home.


This is the hotel where we stayed. Usually in Korea I opt to stay in the cheap "love motels", but I decided to splurge on this trip and went to the Hilton. It was worth it for the breakfast buffet. We arrived at four o'clock on Saturday and didn't leave the hotel all day.


We stayed on the 7th floor known as the World Cup Floor because when Korea hosted the World Cup of Soccer the German and Dutch teams stayed on this floor. There was even a photo in the room of the player who slept there. I thought that was a little creepy.


The second day we went out for some sightseeing. Here's a nice little lake near the hotel where we waited for the bus.


We took the bus downtown, put our bags in a locker at the bus station and headed out to look around. I snapped this picture downtown. This is a restaurant that apparently serves beef. It's quite common for restaurants here to put full color pictures of the animals they serve on their signs. Personally, when I'm eating beef I don't want to be reminded that it comes from something that once peacefully grazed in a field.


Here's the entrance to the first stop on our sightseeing trip. This park, if you will, is the burial site for several ancient kings and queens.


Some detail of the entrance.


Each of these mounds is a tomb. I didn't count, but there were quite a few.


This tomb had been excavated and you are able to go inside. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures of the interior which is disappointing because the way they are constructed is rather fascinating.


Some info on the tomb above.


This is me trying to be artistic. I like the picture.


Of course, Koreans can't leave well enough alone. Even at historical tombs of kings they have to put these goofy-looking cartoon statues. I will never, ever, understand this mentality.


A nice shot of a lone tree and the mountains in the background.


The next stop was this nice lake with a few ancient buildings around it. Apparently, it used to be a massive complex but only three buildings remain (or were recreated, I'm not sure).


Again, trying to be artistic. Don't think this one looks as good, but though I would include it anyway.


A massive bell at the museum. I didn't get a any picture inside the museum, but if you've ever been to a museum you can imagine. Just a bunch of old pots.


I took this shot on the bus back to Seoul. I really liked that even the toll booth was shaped like an ancient pavilion.


I've always thought I should start a collection of pictures of signs on this blog because you see some really ridiculous and funny signs here. Let this and the cow sign above be the beginning. If you can't tell, the sign is supposed to say 'Africa Chicken", but they made a spelling error.