Even after a week, I really can’t get my bearings in Taipei. Some of the street names have started to look familiar but I don’t know which ones run north and south or east and west. For that matter, I can’t reliably tell which direction I’m headed when I’m out. Fortunately, taxis are inexpensive and very accommodating. The concierge at the hotel patiently writes out where we want to go in Chinese characters and we hand the note to the taxi driver. They also have cards with the name of the hotel so we can get back at the end of the day.

Last night, we had a hankering for more familiar food so we went to Lawry’s (yes, the same people who make seasoned salt). The restaurant perches at the top of the Living Mall which is being famous for being shaped like a very large golf ball. We got ourselves to the fourteenth floor where we found an enclave of proper British style--paneled dining rooms, wait staff with perfect English, hunting scenes pictured on the walls. Apparently, the place is popular for Taiwanese birthday celebrations! We were seated in a room with a fabulous view of Taipei 101 which is lit up in blue at night. Next door, another building had a cascading rainbow of lights which reflects off the glassy sheath of Taipei 101.

The restaurant itself was pure theatre, complete with a spinning salad and a huge silver carving station that came right to our table. For desert, Z had his first English trifle. It was another in a series of the contrasts that are Taipei. People here love food in all its many varieties and, in addition to the local cuisine, there are restaurants from every nation on earth.

This morning (Sunday), we spent some time at the Taipei handicraft market looking at tea and jade and silk and scrolls. A morning rainstorm made things very sticky so we stopped at a Japanese restaurant for lunch. They showed us to a private room and women in kimonos brought us sushi and tempura which were a feast for eyes as well as taste buds. Desert was a bowl filled with ice shavings, custard, red beans and boiled peanuts. Like Taipei itself, it was a surprising blend of different ingredients that came together into a harmonious whole.

P and I were still eager to sight-see, so we walked to the Miniatures Museum. To be honest, I was expecting tiny art works like what we’d seen at the National Museum. Wrong again. This museum was filled with the most detailed recreations of homes in different eras. Most were from Europe and the USA. The furnishings were a tribute to human ingenuity and patience. Our favorite scene was a kitchen with teeny tiny petite fours and itsy bitsy kitchen utensils. Each scene was interpreted, presumably for children, but often in hilarious ways that emphasized the comfortable lifestyle of the imaginary occupants of the scenes including a lot of attention to their alcohol consumption. In one scene, there were tiny brandy snifters, in another there was an entire wine cellar. The exit dumped us into a gift shop with mini servings of plastic food. It was all I could do not to order a sample of everything we’ve eaten in Taipei.

Dinner found us in another startling restaurant. The Indian Bar is right around the corner from the hotel. I’d read about it but decided we shouldn’t be eating curry in Taipei. Still, the dinosaur décor was intriguing--you can see giant skeletons inside--so we decided to give it a try. Turns out the “Indians’ are actually Native Americans who in a bizarre reinterpretation of history show up in pictures riding on brontosauruses. The food was also eclectic--salmon lips and fried crickets and oysters prepared in every possible way. We each found something that seemed like a plausible entrée and the food arrived, as it so often does, in a leisurely way on plates intended for sharing. We sampled more Taiwanese beer and there was a Taiwanese musical duo who sang American pop tunes with considerably skill and enthusiasm. All in all, another memorable meal.

And so to bed…. There are still many things I’d like to see, especially on the outskirts of Taipei, but I’m worried about getting back in time for the Big Game. So tomorrow, I think we’ll regroup and figure out how to pack all the things we want to take home. I may need to go shopping for another bag!! Hopefully, that kind of busywork will be enough to keep our nerves calm until game time!