Who, me? Camera-happy? Nawww...

So, Part 1 of 2 of Day 1 of 6, otherwise known as The First Thousand of What Is Undoubtedly a Million Photos from My Trip Almost One Year Ago to Seoul, has made it online. I figure if I get the rest of the photos online before the one-year anniversary of said trip, I'm doing well. Anyway, suffice it to say, the camera doesn't lie, and I loved Seoul. It was one of the highlights of my year in Japan (OK, almost every trip we took, including the shorty weekend jaunts, were a highlight of our year in Japan). I really, really, really liked Seoul, and I took a lot of pictures of Seoul. Don't delay; go check out the first half of the first full day of our trip.

One less piece of history...

Yesterday, I was saddened to hear about the loss of the beautiful Namdaemun, or South Gate, in Seoul, this weekend.


The guards are there more for tourists than for guarding the city, these days, and, alas, are not there at night, when the fire that largely destroyed the building was started.

We visited Seoul last March, and being the cultural heritage junkies that we are, visited the Gate. The gate, made largely of stone and wood, has stood for over 600 years (with renovations, of course, including a major overhaul in the 1960s), and is (was?) the only remaining part of the great city walls that once surrounded the city of Seoul. Think of the Quebec City walls and gates, only much bigger and much older.

I still haven't posted my photos from our South Korean jaunt, but this occurrence has made me determine that I will attempt to do so, at least in part, this weekend. In the meantime, you can see more great photos of the Gate on Flickr.


There's a gate like this in the middle of every large city, no?