day 31_A Walk in the Park

Well, Sunday (yesterday) was day 31 folks. It is official, I have come full circle and survived my first month in Taipei. Sunday morning I was feeling particularly in need of entertainment (I'd had my nose in a new book most of the weekend), so I decided to checkout a few landmarks for an ultimate rest & rejuvenate kind of a day... starting out with... food, of course!

In my opinion, I have actually refrained quite a bit from writing about food on my blog thus far, but that is one of the big curiosities that I hear from people - "What do you eat?" This Sunday, I was feeling particularly all-American. Craving that stereotypical stack of pancakes, with bacon, eggs, etc. There is a restaurant in Taipei called 'the Diner' with 2 locations in city. They've gotten some very good reviews and offer great western food at non-Western prices (usually you pay a premium for Western style food), so I decided this was definitely destination #1 for the day. I took the MRT and wandered awhile before I finally found it on a small side alley, but once I saw the sign, it was easy to spot the big retro 50's style logo with the words "the Diner" in English :)

As to be expected, there were many other foreigners there. They were mostly sitting with Taiwanese friends, so I didn't really start up a conversation with anyone - but in this atmosphere, I did not stand out like a sore thumb. Breakfast was.... great!

Breakfast/Brunch from the Diner

After I had eaten waaaay too much (I am no longer as accustomed to large portions and heavy food like many American restaurants serve...), I paid the tab - $6 I think - and headed on to destination #2, Da'An Park. I had specifically chosen this Diner location due to it's proximity to the park which I had also been wanting to check out.

I walked to the park, and wandered a bit, just exploring. For those of you who are familiar with Central Park in NYC, I would say Da'An Park is probably Taipei's equivalent. It is a large, public park, in the middle of the city, with a wide variety of activities and interests for all ages.

I walked around quite a while before I decided I had eaten too much and then walked too soon... so I found a nice bench and spent some time people watching - and this was a great place for that. Teenagers playing ball, old men practicing some sort of traditional Chinese martial art/stretching exercise, women kissing babies, couples strolling, friends jogging. There was plenty to see and admire. Despite the masses of people, I did manage to take a few photos of the vegetation that I liked - the plant life was much different from Central Park.

The park and the Diner were both great. Will revisit again sometime :)