Mark Chagall Painting Exhibition and Wendels German Restaurant Tianmu

So when Jen came around today she told me that we were going to see some art exhibition I thought cool.  The reason I thought this was cool because it meant we would do something different to what we normally do.


Jen had a coupon buy 1 get 1 free on the entrance ticket.  We took the MRT to Shilin night market and then we took the bus from there to the National Palace Museum.  When we got to Shilin Jen then had an idea that we should go back to the flower festival on Yangming Shan to see how they have blossomed but with my recent battle against the hay fever I think we made the correct decision.


When we got there we had a little walk around outside the National Palace Museum mainly because we didn't know were the entrance the exhibition was.  We wondered about for a bit looking and took a few hasty snaps but the weather was intensely hot!

National Palace Museum 

The Exhibition we went to see.

Chaing kai shek statue.

When we seen it and got inside I was quite surprised that it was really interesting.  I had never heard of the guy who's paintings we went to see.  They were pretty cool and a lot of them were very abstract which looked like sometimes he wanted to give across two or maybe three meanings.  


The pictures with all flowers in however were pretty damn boring.  Jen told me that the section that included mainly flowers, was because he was inspired to paint them because of his love for his wife.  I'm sure there are more interesting things that you can paint that can show love, I mean paint some flowers thats fine but not only flowers to show the love.  I guess the only reason he would of painted mainly flowers to show his love was because his wife must of loved flowers, if that was the case then it would make sense. 

By the time I got to the end of the exhibition a lot of the pictures started to look similar.  I guess you must really have to be some kind of art expert to really appreciate that kind of thing but it did make a nice change to what we normally do, which was good. I think I could go to see more exhibitions and things like that try and be a little bit more cultured than usual.

Jen heading for the bus.

National Palace Museum.

People Praying.

It seemed there was huge tour groups of Chinese people at the National Palace Museum.  Jen told me it is because Chaing Kai Shek moved all valuable items to Taiwan when they fled.  Therefore they have nothing of real importance in their National Museums in China, this is the same thing as what Sean told me when we went to the Forbidden City in Beijing too.


We then took the bus back to Shilin. I was starting to get hungry and asked Jen if we should eat around here before we go home, to which she got angry.  She got angry because she said I would ask her "where should we eat then?"  If she said yes.  She is right I would of asked her but I was only wondering if she wanted to eat around there.  I was not to be put off anyway on my mission of going somewhere to eat before we went home, and I couldn't help laughing when she got angry.  


So I was suggesting a few things and ideas and then when we were on the MRT station I thought why don't we go back to that German restaurant I went  to, to celebrate getting my first job here in Taiwan.  When we went there the first time their main dish that they are famous for was completely amazing.  Their main dish is a pork knuckle done in the traditional German style.  The meat inside is tender with the skin being really crunchy making it a great combination when it is done well, and last time we were here Wendels done it well!  Which brings me onto todays underwhelming experience.

Inside Wendels.

We ordered the ceaser salad for starter, and two main dishes the pork knuckle and chicken leg.  First up was the salad, this the waitress told us was only a portion size for one person only, but when she pointed some other people eating it, it clearly looked big enough for two of us.  So we dug into the salad, it was ok a bit bland compared to other ceaser salads we have had but it was fine, however I did think it had too many olives.  I just think that Primo's the Italian pizza restaurant have nailed the salad because of the extra cheese they give you on everything.  There extra cheese is good stuff too.  It was nice the problem for them was we had already had nicer salads with more taste to them.

Cesar salad

Next up we had the main dishes, and these looked good when the waitress brought them out.  So I tried the pork knuckle first, and it was just OK.  Last time it was amazing but their was something not quite the same about it this time.  The skin was not as crunchy, the flavours tasted all wrong, and the meat inside was very fatty compared to last time.  Me and Jen were both totally disappointed with how it tasted.  Jen told me she thought it was just her who thought it was not as good but I told her no!  It was me also. 

Chicken.

Pork Knuckle 

The pork knuckle came served with two balls of things, one seemed like it was made from some kind of bread, and I don't have a clue what the other one was, some pickles underneath the pork and a splattering of mustard.  One of the small ball things I really liked but I don't have any clue what it is at all. 


Jen tried the chicken first, and she told me the skin tasted a bit like fish.  I don't know what sauce they put on top of the chicken but it wasn't great either.  They served the chicken with some potato wedges and vegetables.  The potato wedges were nice I thought but it was not enough to save their dishes from being very unsatisfying this time.

Jen eating at Wendels.

I don't think I will be repaying a visit to Wendels, I was throughly let down by them tonight.  The atmosphere and service of the place was still good and very pleasant making it a nice place to go and chat with friends or the missus however their vital ingredient let them down tonight, there food!  This means they have lost two customers which I am sure they wont mind about, but I couldn't help leaving the restaurant wishing the food was like last time or we had went some where else.


Wendels also has a big German style beer garden outside of the restaurant but I am not sure how much their beers were didn't really look but I can tell you they won't be cheap.  If just going to sit outside and drink it seemed a decent enough but pricey place however.

Beer Garden outside Wendels.

When we left Wendels we decided to go to Carrefour on the way home from there because there is one just next door in Tienmu.  We were only going in for some beers but ended up have a good solid look around, and it must of seemed like I was having a good recce of the site.  The reason we looked around loads is because it was a lot different to our Carrefour in Xiemen.  It had lots more foreign items in there and seemed a lot more 'exotic' in general compared to my local.  It even had its own wine room, with some wines selling for over £1000.  How crazy is that, they even had there own separate temperature compared to the rest of the supermarket.  If I ever bought a wine for that much money I would want it to do everything for me!  I mean I would want it to cook for me, clean, wash my clothes I would even want it to wipe my arse after I have had a mighty shit.  I would never want to drink it!


I did feel a little sorry for my Carrefour in Xiemen mind you however it is mine!  I know it better and it is more local than the foreign one in Tienmu.  Thats where all the foreign schools are, and where a lot of foreigners live so it makes sense, I do wonder however if they ever sell any of those expensive wines.

When we got home we ended the night watching Black Swan, and it was totally a big heap of piling stinking shit!  Over rated yeah it was shot well and the story would be mildly interesting if you care about ballet dancing but I just found it really boring.  Jen really liked it though it seemed which I was glad about because we have never watched a movie for a while.  Anders best supply me with only good movies in the future or he will be getting told!!.  Anyway the quality of the movies he downloads are awesome which means I might have to supply myself with a massive hard driver too, and a HD TV, the need to buy list is getting bigger.