One day in Suwon

It is several months now that I do not blog. Two children are like four, somebody told me. I do not agree, but certainly two parents for two children means no free time. 

Anyway today I write it, quickly, so forgive my mistakes. On Saturday we went to Suwon, it is a nice town only one hour from here, very different from Seoul. More traditional, maybe a bit more provincial, but it retains more the fascination of a less modern Korea. Always many cafe's, but also old traditional restaurants with excellent and fresh seafood. 

Suwon had its greatest glorious time at the end of the eighteen century when the korean king unsuccessfully tried to move the capital to this small place. Although he failed they have built several kilometers of a wide walkable wall. Certainly not comparable with the chinese wall, but still quite impressive. The remnant walls are about 6 km long. With two children we could not walk them, so after lunch we went to see the old center of the "imperial" city, which has been in fact reconstructed 40 years ago, but is anyway quite nice. 

When we arrive at the train station of Suwon, two scary figures welcomed us. And as soon as we arrived to the old city, we found that they were playing a battle with ancient costumes and swards...

In front of the entrance of the old city.

While looking for a place where to have lunch, we saw a tiny water stream... I marvel at their idea of moving the capital here, where there isn't any river! Some say that there are many lakes here, but we did not see them. 

We found this marvelous traditional restaurant. Very small, we were the only customers. We ordered their best meal, a giant soup of meat and and seafood. It was traditional, which means that it was really really spicy!

The meat was the best one, close to the bone and we had fish and seafood. The red color is not tomato,  it is chili! 

The women at the restaurant were just happy of babysitting Renee. But she did not want to stay more than 10 minuts faraway from the mother. mmm... 

Filled our stomach, we went back to the old city where there was one of this classic traditional shows. We saw them already 3-4 times, although they look quite similar one to the other this was the best one.  

One element that never misses in these shows is the man walking on the rope. It is really interesting because the figure is always the same. He starts playing the role of who cannot walk on the rope and slowly he improves until he perfectly executes extremely difficult figures. He also speaks and complains all the time and the people, who obviously know that he is just pretending, find this terribly amusing. It is fascinating as well that the difficult exercises are nearly always the same. Maybe there is a school where they learn that, or maybe it is a very precisely defined figure, as Arlecchino or Pulcinella in Italy. It is something that I have to investigate better. 

Inside the old city there is a wide choice among many activities. One of them is the traditional tea ceremony. A classic, yes, but I have to say that it is a pity that one can so rarely find it in Seoul.

And yes, Marlen has learned by her-selves to make the "V" like the people here in eastern Asia!

This is how it looked like an "imperial" meal!  Fruits, fishes, meat, seeds and flower decorations.

There are also many child activities. In this one Marlen could make paper starting from some suspended plants solute in water.

Renee sleeping in her baby carriage alone in the middle of this huge (imperial) square... 

Finally we have spent our last energies playing on the ground of these carved figures in front of the entrance.

and finally back home!