We met Grace's parents for breakfast after a very satisfying sleep. We had a pretty typical Taiwanese breakfast, consisting of many things for which I do not know the name. Highlights were fresh soy milk (very different from what you get in stores - less an imitation of milk proper than its own, separate entity) and some sort of breakfast sandwich with eggs and fried doughy goodness akin to churros.

After breakfast we met Grace's grandparents (on her father's side). They don't really speak English at all, so I couldn't offer much in the way of conversation besides saying "Hello" in very poor Mandarin as coached by Grace. Some funny tidbits from the meeting, but maybe I'll let Grace go back and fill them in.

We spent the majority of the day at the National Palace Museum (on Wikipedia). No photographs allowed there, so you all won't be tortured with a massive gallery. I will include one picture of what is apparently the most famous piece, the jade cabbage.

The jade cabbage. Apparently famous for how well the sculptor used the flaws and natural variations in the jade as assets to make the piece more lifelike.

Grace described the jade cabbage as something like the Chinese Mona Lisa. Perhaps a little underwhelming in person, but with a perpetual giant crowd surrounding it.

We saw a lot more things, including other jade sculptures. Unfortunately, I have even less appreciation (and context) for Eastern art than I have for Western art, so a lot of the beauty was most likely lost on me. In particular, there were many famous examples of calligraphy that, while interesting, probably had most of their significance lost to me.

We had dinner that night at Din Tai Fung. As usual (they have a couple locations in Seattle), it was very good. Particularly the black truffle dumplings (yum!).

We grabbed a couple pictures of ourselves at the restaurant.

Grace's parents!

Grace and me!