Wednesday, October, 10th is Taiwan's independence day. Teachers don't have to work because it's a national holiday. It's actually the only holiday all semester other than new years that teachers get off at Principal school! Since it was a day off, Kristin and I decided to do something on this special day -- so we joined in the festivities. We heard the day before there would be a Parade starting in the morning, but no one know what time it started. We even looked online, but couldn't find a time. We decided to meet at 9:30 a.m. hoping to catch the parade. We arrived at the Presidential building, where supposedly the parade started. There were many security guards everywhere and they had roped off a large perimeter around the Presidential building, so no one could get through. The security guards told us (and a nice family we had met while searching where we could watch the parade) we had to take the MRT to the other side at Sai Ka Shek memorial hall. So, we got on the MRT, took the train 1 stop and got off. When we got there, we found out it too was roped off and we couldn't get through either. The officer told us we had to go around, but we already did. We decided to not chase the parade all day. And, just try to watch from afar. A few minutes later, we heard helicopters. We looked above and saw 5 helicopters in a straight line. The first and last helicopter had a Taiwan flag hanging down. It was quite cool. We were disappointed we couldn't see any of the parade after waking up early on our day off, but at least we tried to participate in the holiday cheer.
Kristin and I spent a nice afternoon together. We first walked around Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall since we were already there. I hadn't see it yet, so I really wanted to take a look. Chiang Kai Shek, 'is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.' The buildings and ground were beautiful!! I would have to say it's one of my favorite spots in Taipei. Since it was double tenth day, there was a small market to buy little trinkets and different foods. Kristin said, there were many more people here today than usual, which made sense since many people had the day off from work.
Afterwards, we took the MRT to Danshui, a really nice area many tourist enjoy, located right on the river. Right near the train station, was a popular street that had cute shops and many food vender's including German ice cream! At the end of the long strip, a few minutes by foot was a fort. Kristin, a history major was very much in love with this. We both learned some things about Taiwan's history in this old fort, San Domingo. 'The fort was first built in 1628 by the Spanish when they occupied the north of Taiwan. Over the years, Fort Santo Domingo was owned by different nationals including Dutch, British, and Taiwanese. It was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1644, and was used as consolation office by the British. The property was not handed over to the Taiwanese government until 1980!
One of the biggest draws to Danshui is the beautiful sunsets over the river on lovers bridge. In fact, you can see the lovers bridge on many postcards throughout Taiwan. We took the bus, not far from the fort to fisherman's wharf. Kristin and I sat and talked waiting for the sunset.. We waited and waited.. And, never saw the sunset! It was too cloudy :( We walked along the bridge and stopped at a few shops. We both agreed fisherman's wharf is beautiful at night compared to the day. At night, you can see the changing colors of the bridge. It's quite lovely, especially when the bridge changes to red-- very romantic.
Each year the government puts on a big firework show on double tenth day located in a different part of Taiwan every year. Sadly, this year it was in Miaoli, located about two hours by car on the west side of Taiwan. So, we weren't able to see any firework show. Instead, we decided to take the MRT to Shilin night market, the biggest night market in Taiwan. We ate dinner and enjoyed a few hours of looking at the many shops!! It was fun!
We had a fun day despite not being able to celebrate much in the festivities.
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