In Insadong

I went Christmas shopping in Insadong all day today. It was quite tiring. Trying to shop for sisters is hard enough - I always feel a little out of my element in botiques that cater to high-school and college-aged girls - but shopping for them in Korea made me yearn for a Tiffany Town, Westport or Town Center. I did get the job done and took a few pictures while I was at it. I bought a Nikon Coolpix S8 camera yesterday and took out for a spin today.

The first photo I took is of a sculpture that was dedicated the week I arrived in Seoul. It was done by a Swedish-born, American artist. The sculpture marks the beginning of a long river that was one of the dirtiest and most polluted areas in Seoul (it used to be underground) but has been renovated and cleaned up. On a sunny day the riverwalk will be packed with people taking photos and enjoying the fountains that are part of the now clean river. This is one of the first areas in Seoul I discovered and it's one of my favorites. There are a lot of art galleries and restaurants around the river and it's a good place to spend an afternoon.

The second photo is a close-up of some of the ornate decorations on a palace. Insadong has many different palaces, but I was able to walk up close to this one and take a close-up photo of the ceiling.

The third is of a statue I found. The plaque in front of this statue was all in Korean and since I don't know Korean I have no clue who he was, but I liked the statue.

Today was my first attempt at using my camera. I'm still learning how to use it and figuring out all the features it has. I should be able to take some good pictures of the night life here and other interesting things as they happen. I'm excited to be able to share some images with everyone and if I can figure out how to post movies, things could get silly.

Love from Seoul