Taiwan Trip, Day 3
The next day I got up extra early, feeling excited. I was planning to finally visit the National Palace Museum, one of the main reasons I had gone to Taiwan in the first place. Because I am a huge museum geek, I figured I would probably spend most of my day there, and I didn’t really plan anything else for that day.
I took the subway to Shilin station and then took a cheap bus in order to get to the museum. It was easy and inexpensive. The museum itself is quite impressive looking, in a kind of faux Chinese style, and painted green. A lot of people were taking pictures outside of the building. If you faced away from the building, you could see some huge somewhat dingy looking buildings—apartment blocks? I wonder what they were.
After that, I went into the museum and did my art history geek thing. Almost inevitably, it was a bit of a let down. They did have some amazing things there, however—one of their star items is a cabbage made of jade, and also a piece of stone made to look like a slab of meat. Those were really interesting—they date from the Qing dynasty (which stretched from the 17th century to the 20th century. They are kind of like curiosities—the craftsmanship was still amazing, however. The other collections were excellent too, of course, but less memorable. I did end up having a bit of a disappointment. I was really looking forward to seeing the museums collection of paintings—in particular, they own Fan Kuan’s Tang-era `Travelers Among Mountains and Streams` and a number of other extraordinary early period paintings. But unfortunately, the whole section was closed for remodeling! I was really disappointed. I wanted to come back later—it would be opened by the time I returned to Taiwan, the day before leaving. But I was not able to go back, and that was a shame.
However, I did go to the gift shop and spend a lot of money! I got a cute key strap in the shape of a cabbage, salt and pepper shakers in the shape of bronze Shang bells, and a few books about the collection, which were quite inexpensive. I stopped at a nice little café in the museum and had some good dessert. Then I headed back home to the hostel. I was planning to leave Taipei the next day, and needed to make my final plans.
I took the subway to Shilin station and then took a cheap bus in order to get to the museum. It was easy and inexpensive. The museum itself is quite impressive looking, in a kind of faux Chinese style, and painted green. A lot of people were taking pictures outside of the building. If you faced away from the building, you could see some huge somewhat dingy looking buildings—apartment blocks? I wonder what they were.
After that, I went into the museum and did my art history geek thing. Almost inevitably, it was a bit of a let down. They did have some amazing things there, however—one of their star items is a cabbage made of jade, and also a piece of stone made to look like a slab of meat. Those were really interesting—they date from the Qing dynasty (which stretched from the 17th century to the 20th century. They are kind of like curiosities—the craftsmanship was still amazing, however. The other collections were excellent too, of course, but less memorable. I did end up having a bit of a disappointment. I was really looking forward to seeing the museums collection of paintings—in particular, they own Fan Kuan’s Tang-era `Travelers Among Mountains and Streams` and a number of other extraordinary early period paintings. But unfortunately, the whole section was closed for remodeling! I was really disappointed. I wanted to come back later—it would be opened by the time I returned to Taiwan, the day before leaving. But I was not able to go back, and that was a shame.
However, I did go to the gift shop and spend a lot of money! I got a cute key strap in the shape of a cabbage, salt and pepper shakers in the shape of bronze Shang bells, and a few books about the collection, which were quite inexpensive. I stopped at a nice little café in the museum and had some good dessert. Then I headed back home to the hostel. I was planning to leave Taipei the next day, and needed to make my final plans.
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