On National Foundation Day, I, one of the Gazette reporters, left for Provence Village in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. At first, I found the place through Internet surfing and got attracted to the picturesque scenery. If you like to take pictures, I highly recommend you visit Provence Village and photograph the beautiful buildings there.

Paju Provence Village is modeled on Provence Village in France, and it was built in a sequestered country village in 1996. It started from a French restaurant. As time went by, many other things started to appear in Provence Village.

There are ten buildings in Provence Village. The first building that attracted my eyes was a restaurant painted in orange and pink colors. It had various dishes such as a set menu, appetizers, and beef. The restaurant is next to a Korean-style shabu-shabu house, is a Korean beef restaurant. There is also another restaurant, The Herb Kitchen, where I went to have a lunch. Actually, I couldn't have a full lunch because there were so many people there. I waited about forty minutes, but nobody explained the situation to me. Even though I really wanted to eat food in that restaurant, I only ate salad, soup, and garlic bread, but it tasted very good. There were other buildings such as a bakery and cafe, a fashion and variety shop called Chelsea, a living goods shop, herb workshops, and a herb garden restaurant.

When you go to Provence Village, you can see many buildings painted with various colors and it makes you feel like you are in a village from a fairy tale. If you take pictures anywhere in Provence Village, they will be very beautiful.

In a way, Provence Village is not a living village; it is a shopping area. They sell their own ceramic wares, herb goods, and other living goods, and they also sell through their Website http://www.provence.co.kr. They also hold events of making herb soap and hand-painting ceramic ware such as cups, plates, and vases in herb workshops. Sometimes they hold various festivals such as a discount festival, concert, and face-painting.

Provence Village is very far from Daegu. It takes about four and a half hours to get there. If you want to go there, the fastest way to get there is to take the KTX train and when you arrive at Seoul Station, you should take a subway to Hapjeong Station and exit at gateway 1 or 2. Next, you should take number 200 bus and get off at Seongdong Crossroad. Finally, you should take a taxi or walk about fifteen minutes. Then, you will arrive at Provence Village.

Around Provence Village, there are also many other places to go: Heiri Artvalley, Paju English Village, and Odu Mountain Unification Observatory. If you have a chance to go to Gyeonggi Province, I recommend you go to Provence Village and visit many good sightseeing places there. In particular, people who like taking pictures will love those places very much. If you want more information about Provence Village, you can visit the Website.