Beautiful Churches in Washington D.C.

I visited Washington D.C. last December. There were so many interesting museums, historic sites and fabulous buildings that most visitors have to look around. I would like to introduce the most beautiful buildings that I’ve ever seen in US.
National Cathedral and National Shrine.
Churches or temples are often the most beautiful building in a city thus I always try to visit them when I travel to other cities than my hometown. Washington was not an exception. Most beautiful two buildings in Washington D.C. are churches. National Cathedral is a Episcopal church and National Shrine is a Catholic church. They are great in size and elegant in style.
Why do people try to build churches or temples beautifully? I think the reason is that beautiful things touch people’s heart and make it easy for people to have a religious mind. I am a Catholic and I feel my belief in God becomes deeper when I attend a mass at a beautiful church. :-)
The first pucture is National Cathedral in Washington D.C.


National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.

Korean Foods

On the previous posting, I introduced “Hanok,” Korean traditional buildings. Today, I will write about another part of Korean culture, Korean foods.
First, I want to let you know the most common meal that every Koreans have at home. Three basic components of Korean foods are steamed rice, soup and side dishes and all these components are set on a table together.
Koreans usually eat steamed white rice as a carbohydrate source and various grains such as beans and barley are sometimes mixed with rice.
And there are countless kinds of Korean soups and every vegetable, every meat, and every seafood can be ingredients of Korean soups. My favorite soup is beef brown seaweed soup whose main ingredients are brown seaweed and beef. It’s very easy to expect the ingredients if we know the name of the foods in Korea :-).
There are three major categories in Korean side dishes: vegetables, fish or meat, and Kimch. Steamed or fresh vegetable are usually mixed with seasonings and sauces. Common seasonings and sauces in Korea are salt, sesame, chilly pepper powder, soy source, bean paste, chilly pepper paste and sesame oil. Fish or meats are usually grilled or boiled down in various sauces. Kimchi is the most famous Korean foods. Kimchi is mainly made of cabbage and radish. They are salted and mixed with chilly pepper powder, chopped garlic and some fish sauce. Taste of Kimchi changes as it is fermented. When well fermented, the taste of Kimchi is sour and fresh.
The first picture is the most common and basic everyday meal in Korea.

More extended version of everyday meal.

My favorite Korean food, Bibimbob, steamed rice with various vegetables in a hot bowl made of stone

Chocolates for St. Valentine's Day and Candies for White Day

As in the US, St. Valentine’s Day is a kind of a romantic day for Koreans but it’s somewhat different from here how they celebrate this day. In Korea, usually, women give chocolates to men as an expression of love on St. Valentine’s Day. Originally, the meaning of this chocolate is a kind of romantic thing but these days many Korean women give chocolates to men around them just for friendship. As I worked in the company, I always gave chocolates to my colleagues on St. Valentine’s Day.
Tomorrow is March 14 and it is White Day in Korea. On White Day, men give women candies in return for the chocolates they received on St. Valentine’s Day.
Besides St. Valentine’s Day and White Day, there are many special days which young people celebrate just for fun. For example, April 14 is Black Day. Black Day is for the singles who did not give or receive any romantic chocolates or candies. They eat “Jajangmyeon”, Chinese noodle whose color is black, on April 14. These days, marketing campaigns of chocolate and candy companies are so conspicuous that I sometimes have ill feeling to buy them for Valentine’s Day and White Day. However, Koreans who are poor at expressing their feelings such as love, friendship, and gratitude even to their closest friends, family and a lover may need these days as chances to express their heart.

"Hanok" Korean Traditional House

I'm from South Korea and I would like to introduce Korean culture to my classmates who came from different parts of the world. Korea has a very long history and there are highly sophisticated traditional cultures which have been maintained for more than 5,000 years. Today, I will introduce Korean traditional houses which are called as "Hanok".
The first and most essential feature of Hanok is the idea of co-existence of human and nature. Hanok was designed to harmonize with environments and to feel nature even inside of a house. Furthermore, it was built with various natural substances such as stones for basements, wood for pillars, doors and floors, and clay for walls.
Although most houses in Korea have modern style these days, there are still some villages where traditional houses are gathered even in Seoul, one of the most modern city in the world and some beautiful traditional houses are protected as cultural properties.
Many modern architects put high value on Hanok’s nature-friendly property and try to introduce this in modern buildings.

One of the most beautiful traditional houses which was built about 300 years ago

Hanok village in Seoul

Inside of a recently built building which has a traditional style

Charleston, Experience a mood of the South

On the way to Washington D.C in last December, I stopped over at Charleston, South Carolina. As you can see in the map from my posting dated February 5, 2009, Charleston is slightly East from I-95, the highway which I took to Washington D.C.. I don’t know why I should visit Charleston even though I had to take a roundabout way to my final destination. Maybe it’s because of romantic sentiments which come from the images of great cotton fields and passionate people of Sounthern cities. Charleston was an origin of Civil War and the center of the South at that time. I just wanted to experience an atmosphere of the South in Charleston.

I walked around Historic District in Charleston. The views of Charleston which I saw during walking were just beautiful. I could see lovely houses or beautiful churches on every corner and every street of Charleston. The most unforgettable scene is the European mansions along Copper River which has preserved the style of pre Civil War. They looked so antique and made the street views more attractive.
The first image is a picture of East Battery in Charleston and the second is a photo taken in the garden of one beautiful mansion in Charleston.

Have you ever met any celebrities?

Who is the most famous person among the people you have met so far?

As for me, it's Tom Cruise!!!
Several years ago, Tom Cruise visited Seoul, Korea for promotion of his movie."Vanila Sky" with his girl friend, Penelope Cruz. That was Saturday afternoon and I was on the way back to my house after work. I saw many women gathered in front of COEX, one of the largest convention centers in Korea and the reason why they got together was Tom Cruise!! I saw him just in front me and even shook hand with him. Although he was smaller than I expected, he was very very handsome and kind to fans gathered to see him. After that afternoon, I became a big fan of Tom Cruise :)

And last December, I saw another celebrities in Washington D.C. and took a picture with them. Guess Who? There is a hint in the picture. The white building behind us is White House. Yeah~~ Bush family!!!! We didn't know who they were when took a picture. Seeing the enlarged image, they looked like Bush family. My husband and I believe that we took a picture with Bush family :D

Beignet of Cafe de Monde in New Orleans

What comes across your mind first when you think of New Orleans

Jazz? Gumbo soup? Mississippi River? Mardi Gras Parade? Or POPEYES?

As for me, it's Beignet (French Donut) of Cafe de Monde in French Quarter, New Orleans. Cafe de Monde has been there for more than 50 years and it only sells Beignet and cafe latte.

I knew this donut from a Korean TV program named "Walk into the World" in March. This was my favorite TV program in Korea and New Orleans was introduced in March of the last year. Anyway, I can't forget the moment when I saw the reporter bit Beignet. The donut looked soooooooo delicious!!! I really hoped to taste Beignet some day but didn't know when it would be. The time comes earlier than I expected!

Last Decembr, on the way to Washington D.C. I stayed New Orleans for two days and went to Cafe de Monde early in the second morning to taste the unforgettable Beignet and I finally ate it. It was sweet and tasty but the taste was not special. Actually, Beignet was a plain donut covered with a mountain of sugar powder. Anyway, it's one of the funny memories in New Orleans to go to Cafe de Monde.

The Longest Travel in My Life

My husband and I came to Austin last September from Korea and have stayed here for 5 months. Before we came here, we have one wish which we can do only in the United States. That is Trascontinental travel!!! South Korea is such a small country as compared to the United States that it only takes about 5 hours to cross the country from West to East and 6 hours from North to South by car. We wanted to feel the vast of land in the United States, one of the largest country in the world.
In the mean time, we got a chance to realize our dream finally. My husband’s aunt in Washington D.C. invited us for Chirstmas and New Year’s holiday and we decided to go there by car not by flight. Although it is only half of the entire length of the continent from Austin to Washington D.C., it was enough to experience the vastness of the United States.

We traveled to Washington D.C. by car and it took two weeks for us to come back to our home in Austin. During the trip, we stepped on 11 different states: Texas, Louisiana, Missisippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tenesse, Alkansas, and Texas again, stayed in six cities: New Orleans, Jacksonville, Charleston, Fairfax (surburb of Washington D.C.), New Port News and Dickson, and total distance we traveled was about 3,900 mile. That was longest travel in my life. Some details of this exciting travel will be posted in this blog.

Mt. Bonnel in Austin

The theme of my blog is "Travel & Beautiful place". I would like to tell my travel story in this blog. First posting is about a beautiful mountain in Austin.
In Korea, we can see mountains everywhere. There are so many mountains and hills that it's almost impossible to find a place where we can't see them. My husband and I like climing and climbed a hill near my house everyday.
Austin is a beautiful city but it was very disappointing that we couldn't see any hills or mountains here.
One fine Saturday morning in last November, I was looking into the map of Austin to find a place where we can enjoy the beautiful weather. Then I finally found a mountain!! It's Mt. Bonnel. It only took 15 minutes by car from my house to get there. This mountain was not suitable for climbing because we could reach to the top of Mountain Bonnel by car. But the scenery from the top is so beautiful. I could see the Colorado river and beautiful houses along the riverside. I also could see Austin downtown there.
Mt. Bonnel is my favorite place in Austin so far.