Gyeongju

We took a trip to Gyeongju, the capital during the Shilla dynasty. This city is known as "the museum without walls" due to all of the artifacts and ruins scattered across it. We had a really nice time, though it did get rainy on us!

Our first stop... the entrance to the enormous temple complex called Bulguksa.

A peek inside the largest temple on the grounds.

Water like this is frequently available (for drinking) in mountain areas.

From Bulguksa, we hiked about two miles up the mountain. We reached Seokuram Grotto - a restoration of the original grotto located here. The grotto contains a large stone buddha statue. It was a little disappointing to find that we couldn't enter the grotto, or take photos. So we had a look through the glass viewing area, and then headed back down the mountain.

The grotto is in that little hill just behind the building on the left. It was really misty
toward the top of the mountain, as you can see in the photo.

A woman in her raincoat take a photo near an enormous
funeral mound in the middle of Gyeonju. We got to go inside one.
Think pyramid, with dirt and grass over the top...

More ruins (I think.)

Lotus stems.

This building was built as part of the World Culture Expo Center. It was hard to get a decent photo, but the shape of a pagoda is cut right out of the middle of it.
It looked like you could take an elevator up to and observation deck near the top.