Built during the Joseon dynasty, the supposed grandest, most beautiful (or at least largest?) of the five palaces, Gyeongbokgung served as both a royal home and seat of government. Until the Japanese invaded... The first time around the palace was burned and left to decay for a couple hundred years before it was eventually restored...and then destroyed once more by Imperial Japan. In between burning down the palace (twice), the Japanese also managed to brutally assassinate an Empress.
As we explored the now quiet, mostly restored palace, it was hard to imagine how much time had passed since the palace had been first built in the late 1300s, and hard to imagine how much history the palace had witnessed. In the sticky summer humidity people lounged under the sweeping roofs and meandered through arched gateways that led to peaceful overgrown gardens. In present times, selfie-stick wielding, camera phone tripod carrying tourists were the only invaders.
I was not expecting the palace to be so expansive. We walked through building after building, gate after gate, archway after archway, until we reached the Queen Dowager's beautifully painted private residence. Continuing past the queen's private gardens we walked outside of what we thought was the palace boundaries (it wasn't -- the palace continued) before turning around and exploring the smaller side buildings.
We missed out on seeing some of the most iconic palace pavilions in favor of poking around the less-traveled dining halls and kitchens. Seeing how/what/where people ate is typically my favorite part of any house or palace tour. While I couldn't imagine the palace beyond present day, I could imagine the day-to-day activity of eating. I envisioned people sitting on silk pillows, sipping tea, slurping soup, and daintily biting into brightly colored rice cakes. The rooms had been set up with tables of realistic looking food, as if the royal family had just stepped away for a short time and would return any second to finish their meal.
Several hours (!) later, having lost all track of time, we emerged from the maze of buildings and found our way back to the front gate. It was now close to closing time and it finally felt as if we had the palace all to ourselves. If only those walls could talk.