Gongju!

Hello again! Last weekend we (Will, I, Lizzie and Will's mom who is here to play with her grandbaby while I work) went to Gongju, which is a smaller town a few hours south of here. The drive there was great - drove through some of the countryside, so there wasn't so much traffic, and we weren't in the middle of tall apartment buildings the whole way.

Lizzie was good as usual, and slept most of the way. She cried when she needed her diaper changed, and when she was hungry once, and that was it. We tried out her new stroller, and she seemed to like it for the most part, when there was something interesting to look at. Though, when I put her in front of the mirror in the bathroom so she could see herself, she immediately had a pouty face and started crying! Silly Lizzie...



When we got to the town, we followed the signs to a burial ground, which had a king's tomb. We wanted lunch, but didn't see a restaurant, so we ate ramen from the souvenir stand. Then we went to see the display. The tombs were all closed up, but they had recreated them inside a museum. We walked through and saw the displays, which were simple, but nice. It was fun to see a bit of history.



The king and queen's symbols were pretty neat, they are very intricate. The king's tomb was noticeably different from the others. All were brick/stone domes covered with earth (so they look like little hills from the outside). The king's tomb was made of small bricks which were all carved with symbols. Some of the other tombs were created of large, rough stones.



After the short stroll through the museum, we went outside to see the tombs themselves. It was a gorgeous day, clear blue sky, pleasant temp, and lovely fall leaves on the trees. We walked up an incline to look at the tombs, which looked like little round hills. The doors were all sealed, so nobody could get in.

While we were there, about 8 busloads of elementary-aged kids came for a field trip. They were going through all the exhibits with worksheets, trying to find the answers to the questions. I remember doing the same thing when I was young! When they saw us (the only foreigners), they said 'Hello!', 'Glad to meet you!' and 'Obama, Obama!' We laughed at the last one - who would expect a South Korean 4th grader to know about US politics? Just shows the world was watching.

After the tombs we went to a fortress. It was basically a wall around an open area, and other than a good view of the town and river, it wasn't all that exciting. The only thing of note was when one of the ticket sellers looked at me, looked at Lizzie, then looked at Will, and said 'your baby look like American president'. Umm... ok. I guess all mixed babies look the same! Lol.

We drove back via a different route, much quicker but through the city. A lovely day overall!



And now, some photos of Lizzie...

What Lizzie thinks of her toy catalog:






Naptime!


Bathtime with Mommy!



Bedtime story with Daddy!