Today, we went to the DeokSu Palace and I learned many things there. I learned why the Dabdo was higher than the other 2 roads in Samdo(Three Roads). The Dabdo was where the king walked and since the king¡¯s political rank was higher than then the officers, the road on which the king walked was higher. Also, the Dabdo is not very smooth so it¡¯s very easy to dissapoint foreign visitors when they compare us with Japan or China but these rough rocks(Baksuk) were actually put in there for a scientific and historic reason. Back in the Josun Dynasty, the shoes weren¡¯t fully developed so it was very easy to slip on a smooth road and a smooth road would reflect sunlight resulting in sun burns on the lower portion of the legs. Behind this Baksuk lies a wonderful example of how smart people were in the Josun Dynasty.

In the inner palace, some Russian architecture stands on Korean soil. This was due to Gojong staying in Russia for a long time. With this meeting of two different cultures, Western and Eastern, Gojong brought many Russian architecture in to DeokSu Palace. These Russian architectures are not decorated with DanCheon but with golden deer and bats. In Russian or in any Western culture, bats symbolize vampires, draculas and other evil beings. On those golden decoration, you can see that the deer is in the middle and the bats are forced in to the corners. This is to symbolize bats, or evil beings being chased away by the deers. I had lots of fun in DeokSu Palace and I hope I can have more adventures like this soon.