Of course, many people fussed over Jeremy and how cute he is. I enjoyed looking at everything and, after a while, convinced Jeremy to let me carry him so we could explore some of the narrower aisles. There were many beautiful fountains, pots and vases, but I don't want to try transporting anything breakable. I also found this Japanese maple bonsai (the trunk is in the centre).
I would love to grow a Japanese maple, and found a woman selling little ones for 100NT. But she thought the chances of getting it into Canada without it dying or being confiscated are slim to none. I don't know how to say "slim to none" in Chinese, but I understood what she meant.
My response to Trina's previous hint: a dozen long-stem roses. Guess how much they cost? 80NT. That's about $2.70CDN. That'll have to do for Mother's Day, since I won't be here. A lucky thing it's the roses, and not the price tag, that counts with Trina. Michael had also asked for "little purple flowers" for his teacher (40NT) and was really pleased to be able to give them to her.
I got back in time to take Michael to buy some lunch. I chose steamed shrimp dumplings and he chose vegetarian noodles with cobs of corn in them. It also had mock chicken, which looked, tasted and felt like chicken. Michael didn't believe me that it wasn't real and Trina thought it was really good.
On my list of place to go was the National Palace Museum. When the communists chased the nationalists from China, the nationalists stole as many national treasures as they could and brought them to Taiwan. They also brought much of the culture (cooking, religion, writing) and saved it from the Culteral Revolution. The museum is huge and the last time I was here, it was under renovation, so I didn't get to visit much of it. This time, with the boys, we decided to limit ourselves to the gift shop. That way the boys were more free to move around and touch things. They didn't break anything and actually had a pretty good time. Trina bought me a book called The Treasures of the National Palace Museum, which will allow me to see the most interesting pieces at my leisure, with an explanation, and we bought a couple reproductions of famous paintings for ourselves and a DVD describing the famous painting Along the River During the Ch'ing-ming Festival for Trina's mother (who got the painting during our last visit). Given Trina's love of horses, I was surprised that she chose not to buy a copy of One Hundred Horses. Like she said, where would it go in our house? Here is Bamboo and Orchids, one of the scrolls we bought. (The website where I found this copy charges about ten times what we paid at the museum gift shop.)
Coming out of the museum, Trina spotted a building shaped like a European castle, across the street and up a block. We went to see what it is... it's a kindergarten (ages 2 - 6) that was built about two years ago. With a "farm" in back and a swimming pool on the sixth floor. When Trina suggested she might be interested in teaching there, the principal was happy to tell us all about it.
Since the kids had been so well-behaved during our museum visit, we decided to do something for them. We took a taxi to Yu Kids Island, which wasn't far away, and ate dinner while they played. When it got dark (remember, around 6:45), we went across the street to the giant ferris wheel. Trina stayed on the ground with our possessions and Michael got really excited about the ride. I felt a little nervous with Jeremy knocking on the windows and climbing all over the place, but the view of the nighttime city was spectacular. What North Americans call "light pollution",
Asians call "a beautiful view." Trina had the camera in her bag, so I have no pictures, but from the Miramar mall website, you can get an idea of what we saw.
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