Although it would have been nice to sleep in on a Sunday morning, we set our alarm to make sure we would beat the crowds at the Miyahara Eye Clinic (宫原眼科). My friends, this is no ordinary eye clinic. In fact, this “eye clinic” houses 62 flavors of ice cream and some of the most beautifully packaged pastries and candies I’ve ever seen in one shop. It was originally built in the 1920’s by a Japanese optometrist, Dr. Takekuma Miyahara, as an eye clinic and pharmacy. It fell into disrepair and abandoned after the massive earthquake in Taichung in 1999 until a pastries’ company bought it, renovated it and turned it into the spectacular sight it is today using many of the materials from the original structure.
Before we journey to this magical land, I need to mention the absolutely lovely front desk staff at our hotel. One of the receptionists found out that we were celebrating my birthday, so while I was upstairs packing after breakfast, she snuck Jules into the ‘art room’ in the hotel (no kidding, there really is an art room in this place) where he then surprised me with a painting on framed canvas. She refused any sort of a tip, adding to my growing tab of the unbelievable customer service and niceness of people in Taiwan.
Off to the ice cream shop. I deliberately planned an early start to the day to avoid the long lines forewarned by Yelpers. Really, who’s going to eat ice cream at 10 in the morning? Silly rabbit, apparently I forgot which country I was living in, since we were met with about 30 other people with the same idea.
It was slightly surreal standing on line for ice cream at 10AM, putting in our order with adults dressed up as Santa’s elves and walking into a space that looked like it belonged on a Warner Bros’ set for Harry Potter. The best part was deciding which three flavors and toppings to choose. Jules wanted chocolate. Oh, sure. 80%, 67%, 62%, 44%…? With or without nuts? From Ecuador, Mexico, the Caribbean…? There were 16 chocolate flavors alone, aaahhhh!! Ultimately, we went with the longan strawberry, black tea with rosemary and lavender and Caribbean nut chocolate topped with chocolate biscuit, cheesecake and banana (our equivalent of a diet Coke with a super size Big Mac meal). The quality of the ingredients was bar none, and it helped having a massive ice cream cup in hand to prevent me from buying up half the store with its tasty selection of confections and buttery baked treats. Not to mention the gorgeous packaging; each box even came with its own matching bag. Excessive to say the least, but then again, Hogwarts was never known for its subtlety.
Our next stop was more sobering, but I had heard wonderful reviews of a little museum a half hour drive outside of the city center, the 921 Earthquake Museum. As I mentioned in my previous post, the collision of two tectonic plates created the island of Taiwan and gave it its spectacular mountain ranges. Unfortunately, multiple fault lines run right through the center of Taiwan, and one running through Taichung ruptured on September 21, 1999, creating a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake museum was built on the site of a junior high school, which was sitting right on top of one of the fault lines. Luckily, school wasn’t in session when the earthquake struck, and the original school structures were preserved to teach people about natural science and earthquake preparedness. This was one of the best educational museums I’ve ever been to, and Jules really enjoyed learning about the geology, geography and physics behind earthquakes. If only all learning could be this engaging.
One last stop before heading back to the train station, the National Taichung Theater (台中國家歌劇院). This Taiwanese landmark building, opened to the public last year, was designed by renowned Japanese architect, Toyo Ito, in collaboration with designer Cecil Balmond. It is an opera house that is unique in that no wall inside is horizontal or vertical (a super fun job for the revolving door of builders attempting to construct Mr. Ito’s vision). There are no clear boundaries between the white, plastered walls and ceilings and floors. To me, it felt very relaxing, playful and womb like. Not to mention the phenomenal acoustics inside the grand theater. It also reminded me of the human heart, where narrowed corridors with white walls and carmine carpeting branched out from the center in a seemingly random order, awakening memories of the aorta and vena cavae from anatomy class. Sigh, if only we had more hours in a day, then we could have explored this feat of architecture more completely. We were able to squeeze in a fancy lunch at the restaurant inside, however, where we were thoroughly cocooned by the tasty food, plush couches and organic forms around us.
