We awoke this morning in a new country, South Korea. We docked in Busan, cleared immigration, and got onto buses for the 90-minute drive to Gyeongju and a whirlwind tour of Korean culture. Our first stop was the Gyeongju National Museum, which is mostly devoted to relics of the Silla kingdom, which controlled southern Korea between 57 BCE and 935 CE.

We only had an hour at the museum before we had to leave for a very important appointment: lunch at the Commodore Hotel, complete with a performance of Korean music and dance.

Our next stop was the Bulguksa Temple Museum. Once more, our visit was too brief.

We finished the day by going to the Daereungwon Tomb Complex, a series of mounds covering royal tombs of the Silla kingdom’s rulers. We took a quick walk through the Heavenly Horse Tomb, which had been where the Gold Crown we saw at the museum was buried for many centuries.

All of our hurrying paid off – we beat the traffic and got back to Busan and our ship in just over an hour.

We barely scratched the surface of Gyeongju; the rest of Korea remains a mystery.

We were only on land for a few hours today; our first stop was Matsue Castle, built in 1611 by Horio Yoshiharu as a stronghold for feudal lords, not as a gracious residence.

Today, it is a National Treasure and a popular tourist spot, complete with gardens, trees, and a Shinto shrine.

Of course, they also have the necessities for tourists.

Our second stop was the Adachi Museum of Art, which has a great collection of modern Japanese art and a truly awe-inspiring set of gardens. The building is designed to let you enjoy the gardens along with the art. The art was nice, but the gardens were spectacular, so I’m glad they allow photography of the gardens!

We returned to the ship, cleared passport control, and are sailing to Busan, South Korea for tomorrow’s visit.