China Day 12

The final day of our trip! It’s been exciting, enlightening and fun, but I think a part of all of us wants to get back to our own home. Before we headed out to the airport in the afternoon, however, we made one last tourist stop to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial.

This massive park is home to the Memorial Hall, which reminded me of the Lincoln Memorial inside, the National Concert Hall and National Theater.

The Memorial Hall has a giant statue of Chiang Kai Shek inside a hollow rotunda and is guarded by two statuesque Taiwanese soldiers. We were fortunate enough to be there at the right time to see the “changing of the guard” ceremony. It was only after this ceremony that the kids were convinced the soldiers were real!

After witnessing the ceremony, we descended into the Hall to the third floor where they had some wonderful art exhibits. Stevie and I were both moved by one painters work so we bought her book. Boy, would I have liked to have one of her paintings! The first floor of the Hall housed a museum about Chiang Kai Shek and had lots of his personal belongings including his car, Bible and a signed print of the US moon-landing.

The gardens around the park were really pretty and we had one last photo op before heading back to the hotel to check out.

See Taipai 101 in the distance?

View from our hotel's roof top garden.  Again, Taipai 101!

What a wonderful, wonderful trip we’ve had!