Few days before the birth of Renee Lily the mother of Dorothea has come to visit us. It was not an easy time, taking care of the newborn while the korean winter was coming. Still we took the chance to go to visit some new places. Here I have made some photos of an ancient tea house near the station of Hansung University, not far from Jongno. It is a nice place of which I like to blog.
I always love to photograph these ancient wooden patios. They are common everywhere in central Asia and here as well. For me they represent the bond between the altaic populations extending all the way from Turkey to Japan. I remember most vividly the ones in Kyrgystan, in Arslanbob, and in the restaurants of Osh. Unfortunately the day when we went to this cafe' in Seoul it was too cold to stay outside, but I will go back there when spring will come.
A sense of order, elegance and cleanness is common in Korea.
I have to say, inside it was not nicely warm... while outside the temperature was already at the freezing point, inside the heating system was limited to this old stove.
Ah, so many choices...
Here Kathi and Doro are getting through old and new teas... Marlen choose icecream (of course)! Dorothea instead took Jujube, which is a tea made of little fruits similar to dates. However we don't know what they really are..
Quite a relaxing time
We looked around a bit and we found the origin of the cold. The windows are made of paper!! No wood (except the frame) and just a little part is made of glass. It must have been like that for centuries here!
In the interior there are many special ancient objects.
Pottery
This statue was protected by a cage of glass.
Once outside we made a tour around. There is a real old borehole, with other little statues.
Finally, time to go!
