Day 1: Gwanghwamun Square and Cheonggyecheon
Right across the street from Gyeongbokgung and Gwanghwamun is Gwanghwamun Square . I think I first saw Gwanghwamun Square in pictures during one of the World Cups where there was a sea of red shirts surrounding the statue of King Sejong and spilling out on to the streets. More recently, I saw Gwanghwamun Square featured in one of the action sequences during the KBS drama Iris . You’ll probably noticed this as a repeating pattern through my blog whereby I first saw something or got the inspiration to visit somewhere in Seoul from watching a Korean TV show, drama or movie. Gwanghwamun Square, is just that, a square block (or more accurately, a rectangular block) defined by 4 busy streets on all sides. The contents of the square transforms depending on the season. During the summer the square contains a large flower bed and during the winter, a portion gets converted into an ice rink. The constants of the square though are 2 statues commemorating 2 historical figures from Korea’s past. ...