Day 6.017: Seoul survivors

Today was a bit like yesterday - a lot of rushing about and a bit of Doctor Who.

Meanwhile here is another (probably the last) installment from Day 5.361, maybe by now it's feeling as endless for you as it did for me at the time!

We walked along most of the length of Cheonggyecheon - it's basically an urban park in the form of a beautified stream running through the city.  Korea was in the throes of a cold-snap while we were there - so things were rather icy.  The water features were impressively coated, but apparently ice was less welcome on the stepping stones - workers were removing it diligently with pointy-sticks.

We noticed some strange doors in the wall.  Fortunately there was a picture nearby explaining them - apparently this is an important storm drain from time to time:

We also discovered that an elevated highway was removed as part of the project to open this park.  You can just about imagine it in this picture looking along the path from the end:

To have made this park is impressive, but removing a highway like that is a huge transformation. Maybe there is hope for Albany's waterfront after-all?

Here's one of the art installations along the stream - a huge tile mural depicting a parade with piped sound-effects:



At the end of the stream, we turned towards the palace.  We didn't visit inside this time, but enjoyed the sights up the boulevard and the open courtyard and Seoul's answer to the Queen's Guard: