NPM has become an essential stop for me whenever I'm in Taiwan. I have yet to get sick of visiting it. The Qing ceramics are just breathtaking. My favourite so far has to be the "Hundred Deer Vase." NPM is just a bus ride away from my dorm and I get a 50% discount with my youth travel card. Double yay!
NPM was also having a special exhibition on Alphonse Mucha who is one of my favourite artists. I especially love his lithograph collections. Here's a sample. I love the details in the borders and backgrounds (notice Ophelia lying dead below Hamlet's feet.) Females are heavily featured in his advertisement/poster lithographs. A lot of the posters are in collections of four: seasons, starlight, arts, etc... I love how the lines flow. He really defined the art nouveau movement. The exhibition was really good. I saw some of his pieces that I've never seen before, such as cutlery, jewelry, wallpaper. He even did book illustrations. I find myself more partial to his earlier works, the more mainstream work. His later works are a little too dark for me. Unfortunately, no cameras inside the exhibition so alas, no pictures. I really wanted to buy some posters/postcards but they didn't have complete sets, only one or two from each series so I opted for a pressed coin souvenir instead. All in all, it was time well-spent.
We went to a nice Japanese restaurant for lunch. Deep-fried pork cutlet with miso sauce. Delicious. Stop#2: Shilin Residence
After lunch, we headed off to where CKS used to live. Luckily, we made it just in time for a tour of the actual house. Unfortunately, the second floor is still closed for restoration/organization with no foreseeable opening date. The conspiracy theorist in me suspect that they're looking for/securing down secret passageways/vaults. It wouldn't do to have random tourists finding secret, potentially damaging government documents just lying around right?
The decor was extravagant. A giant dragon craving greets you in the doorway. Matching red sandalwood furniture with mother-of-pearl inlaids with "pig-liver red" ceramic pieces (apparently lady CKS's favourite) furnish the rooms. The walls are also adorned with her artworks. Again, no pictures inside. The house is next to a huge rose garden surrounded by various smaller gardens. According to the guide, the weather has been very unpredictable this summer so flowers were sparse in the garden. :(Stop #3: Shilin Night Market
We had to make a rest stop at an eslite bookstore. Walking around all day was taking its toll. I bought a guidebook to Taipei/New Taipei. Should come in handy for planning future trips. Also, it makes for good MRT reading. I wanted to read "One Day" before the movie comes out but it was $20 Cdn for a paperback copy. No thanks. I'll just have to borrow it from the library later.
Lots of goodies at the night market. The very big fried chicken cutlet was a must. I also had the 煎包 (the bun-equivalent of a potsticker.) I wolfed the food too quickly for any photos, sorry guys.
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