Our last night in Taipei, Julia took us to Danshui. She explained it as basically the Coney Island of Taipei. It's a waterfront area out of the main city a bit. To get there, you take the red line north all the way to the end. 
We arrived in Danshui and a couple of us grabbed coffee to go, and then we walked to a restaurant on the top of a hill that offered a great view of the water. We all did our usual confused tourist thing and accidentally ordered enough beer for about twelve people, even though there were only five of us. Luckily, this was explained to us and we adjusted our order. The local brew came is large bottles and we had assumed they were much smaller. 
The food at the restaurant was good, but not great. I think the attraction is more the setting than the food. They had the satellite radio on a station that was playing American hits of the 80s and 90s. We had the feeling this was for our benefit. Unfortunately, a couple of us at the table are music snobs and after the third Celine Dion song, we couldn't take it anymore and asked for it to be changed (by this time, we were one of the last tables still eating).
Following dinner, we went for a walk down the waterfront, which was strikingly similar to waterfront areas of the northeast United States, only the signs were in Chinese. The girls found a photo booth, so Mike and I walked to a place further down that had a large neon sign of a beer glass, assuming that it was a bar. It turned out to be a restaurant. They walked us up a couple of floors, through a storage area, to the top floor deck outside. I think they were a touch put out when we only ordered beer, although I think they were a little happier when the girls showed up and we ordered a bigger round with some snack food. 
After the drinks, we walked back to the station and took the Metro back to the city and walked back to the apartment from City Hall Station.
On the walk back, we passed a restaurant and bar that's open from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Liz and I had noticed it our second day in Taipei when we made the same walk. Tuesday is "foreigner night." Show your foreign ID and get 2 for 1 drinks. After much discussion, we decided to stop for a drink.
After our entirely too-filling lunch, we visited the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial (which is now called the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Mike remarked that the whole thing had the feel of something like the Nixon Presidential Library. All of the exhibits talked about how great General Chiang was, and included a strange assortment of personal artifacts.
Generalissimo's Cadillacs.
Generalissimo at his desk. 
You will show respect in the memorial. Or else.
Last weekend, Liz and I went on the Hollywood Beach Art Deco Walk, run by the Historical Museum of South Florida. The walk is led by Paul George, MDC professor and local historian. The walk covers the historical area of Hollywood Beach, up Surf Road. 
Although less well known than the area on South Beach, there are some interesting examples of art deco buildings on Hollywood Beach, as well as some older buildings. 
Unfortunately, the light wasn't really good for taking pictures in the morning, so I didn't get much. But now, I know where some of the more interesting buildings are and I will go back in the late spring or summer and get some more shots.
The morning after our night market visit would be our last in Taipei. Kathryn and Mike went off to see some more of the area around our hotel and Julia went to meet some of her arriving family members. I sat around and didn't do much. We had originally planned to go to a hotpot place for lunch, but their menu didn't work with Julia's temporary Buddhist vegetarian diet, so we ended up at a more traditional restaurant. Entirely too much food was ordered. I think Liz has pictures on her camera from the meal. I did not get any. 
Following lunch, we stopped at a shopping mall with a zen garden inside. These are apparently somewhat common.
A look at the street below.
A Chinese restaurant on the next level down. I find it surprising that they felt the need to point out that it is a Chinese restaurant.
My camera battery died on the way from Taipei 101 to the bookstore. I picked up a couple of Taiwanese cookbooks in English (well, Chinese and English), and we went back to the apartment for a little bit of rest. I put a bit of a charge on the camera battery while we were there.
The rest of the evening was spent in the Raohe St. night market. The entrance is across the street and a little down from the apartment. We spent a little bit of time there the first night in Taipei, but we were really only there long enough to get a couple of things to eat. This would be my first real night market experience.
I passed by this shrimp because I was looking for something else. Note the fresh snails (in two different sizes, or are the small ones whelks?). I'm not sure you can get non-canned snails in France. Perhaps I should have tried some.
Something I did not expect to find in a Taipei night market was fried cheese. I was not surprised, however, that Liz bought the "Cheeses of the World" selection. It was actually pretty good.
While some of us were shopping and others looking for food, Julia stopped for a massage. This electrical mess was above the massage setup. I wonder if that's up to code.
A stand of offal. I did not partake because I was already told Ray would take me to get the best chicken feet at the night market in Tainan. But that would be several days later.
As is inevitable, I have fallen behind in posting. Work stress has hit real life stress and the result isn't pretty. My brain has decided it doesn't want to work properly all the time. Last night, I drove to the wrong cinema. Luckily, it wasn't too far from the proper one and we made it to the film (Coraline, very good) during the previews. I have also been unable to get it together to make a bunch of posts that I want to. Who knew that keeping peoples' spirits up took so much out of a person. But there you are, then.
So, to anyone waiting for me to post proper concert reviews, more food stuff or my backlog of pictures and travel stuff (all two of you), patience please and I'll have some more posts soon. In the meantime, I will console myself following the Panthers 4-0 loss to Chicago by reading Calvin and Hobbes and listening to Scorn.
Once our group was complete, we visited Taipei 101, for the moment the tallest building in the world. Across the street is a poncy shopping center called New York, New York that's full of American chain stores (and MUJI). There's a ice cream eating statue of liberty out front.
Taipei 101 is mostly an office building, but the first few levels are host to a mall, and there is an observation deck and exhibit hall on floors 97 and 98, or thereabouts. 
The day was a gloomy one for the most part. I am told that eventually the clouds parted and the view of the city was good. I did not actually see the view as I was having a bad day and was in no mood to go up to the 97th floor. 
Instead, I contented myself with wandering around downstairs and taking some pictures of the building and surrounding area from outside.
101 is connected to New York, New York by a covered walkway.
My camera battery died shortly after this picture was taken, on the walk to the book store down the street. I bought a couple of Taiwanese cookbooks at said store, then we returned to the apartment for a rest before heading to the night market.
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