Bugaksan provides a striking background during a visit to the downtown Jongno district of Seoul. Thursday was Children's Day, and Jongno is the place to go to see the festivities. This year, not a lot was going on at the Cheonggyecheon:
One feature along the walls of the stream are a long series of painted tiles (supposedly the longest work of its kind in the world) which depict a visit by King Jungjo to Hwaseong fortress, based on a painting by one of Korea's great artists, Kim Hongdo. I have below juxtaposed the "money shot" with a similar representation in lantern.
The other key gathering place is Gwanghwamun Plaza, which I visited with old pal Helen in 2014, when technically Children's Day was cancelled following the Sewol Ferry disaster. This year, the area in front of Admiral Yi is dedicated to the memory of the children who died that day during school trips to Jeju-do.
There are lots of activities designed for children.
There were also a few performance art installations, such as this mystical egg nursery, visited by playful dino-lizard creatures who took some time to menace small children:
People were fascinated by this guy, who seemed frozen in place all day long. I tried to wake him up.
My Spring Break activities will conclude on Sunday with my first trip of the season to watch FC Seoul play at Sangam World Cup stadium. Stay tuned.
1 comment:
Lovely photos. Thank you so much for sharing.
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