Seolleung and Jeonglung Royal Tombs

I love me a good tumuli. They just look so cool and how rad is it to have a proper hill formed in honor of your burial? We've already been to Korea's tumuli capital, Gyeongju, but we heard that there was a small tumuli park close to home (Seolleung Station, exit 8) so we went to check it out on Saturday afternoon.

We'd just been at the COEX Mall, and since it was a rainy day, the mall was super crowded. This sleepy park was a very nice contrast to that racket, so we enjoyed ourselves very much.

There are three tumulis to visit at this park, and they all pretty much look the same. This first one contains the good King Seongjong (1469-1494).

Some statues guarding the King's tomb from his apparant #1 threat- Seoul's rapid construction of skyscrapers.

Even though the park is in a very busy part of the city, this area has been left completely untouched, and it's pretty big. Walking around the grounds was really beautiful and the lush green colors really made it feel like we weren't in the city at all anymore. Even on a rainy day it made for a pleasant stroll.

The second tomb was for the missus- Queen Jeonghyeon. Can you spot the differences between this one and the last? I can't. Cool, though.

The last tomb was for King Jungjong (1506-1544), and was located on the top of the hill in the photo above. It was blocked off so we couldn't see it close up, but I presume it looked quite similar to the last two tumulis. The striking difference between this park and the tumulis in Gyeongju (besides the fact that the Gyeongju tumulis were 5 times larger) was how fenced off and limited our access was to the exhibits. In Gyeongju, we climbed the tumulis. There was a concert next to one. Go if you can.

We walked down the path in the previous photo, only to find a sign at the end of it announcing that we'd been on the sacred "tomb spirit's walkway" and we really shouldn't have been. Sorry!
From a distance at the end of the walkway, I zoomed in on King Jungjong's restricted tumuli. Yep, looked just like the other two!

The last sight at the park was my beautiful fiance and her lacey Hello Kitty umbrella posing next to a 500-year-old ginko tree. I'm not sure any tree will really impress again after seeing the redwoods at Vancouver's Stanley Park, but the ginko was an "official" park sight so we did our duty photographing it, anyway.

Last but not least, to follow up on a post I wrote last week about ajummas picking grass for supper, here was another one searching for her food in the pouring rain, 5 minutes from one of the city's largest supermarkets where much delicious grass is cheaply sold.

If you're looking for a quiet afternoon, I recommend visiting this park to visit the humpity humps. Sure, admission is $1, but think of all the free grass you can take home for supper. Bring a big bag. And maybe even a lawnmower!