Day Twenty (Fri, 7/10)

Whew--today will be a really long day.  We boarded the flight to Seoul from Cebu this morning at 1:35 am and arrived in Korea at around 7:00 am (local time).  Since we had a twelve hour layover, we took advantage of a free tour of Seoul.  It was a "cultural tour" that lasted five hours.  So let's see.  I get a new stamp in my passport, I get to learn about Korean heritage and culture, AND it's free!?!  How could I resist?

National Palace.  Taken from the bus because this wasn't on the tour.  It looked interesting though.

Changdeokgung Palace

A view inside 

Roof painting detail.  The five colors used are unique to Korea and represent the four cardinal directions and the center.

A view of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza from the ninth floor of the building where we had lunch.

Another view of the Design Plaza.  It was designed by the architect Zaha Hadid.

A view of Seoul from the bus.

Now we're back in NYC after a 12 hour flight from Korea.  It was a good flight, but I'm afraid I lost my wide-eyed fascination for air travel a few trips ago.

At US immigration, we all had to fill out the declaration form.  Unfortunately, Kyle said "yes" to whether he was bringing in fruit (dried mangoes) and to if he'd been around any farm animals (he petted a goat).  It all worked out, but we had to go through the luggage a bit at the checkpoint.

We'll spend the night at Days Inn, Jamaica and then drive home Saturday.

Dinner: Cajun omelette with fruit and yogurt (airplane food).