In the AM Tuesday we went to Chiang Kaishek's memorial consisting of beautiful buildings and historical information. Apparently Bill was much a more globally aware child than I so he recalls his reactions to events in Asia in that era. ( I remember Girl Scouts and this cute guy in my 8 th grade class) . This place had many good photo ops and REALLY great air conditioning. 

In the evening we went to the wedding banquet venue. It's a huge modern looking place with many rooms for gatherings. The decor is quite attractive.  We met with the wedding planners and I learned the word for balloons. 

Then we had what seemed to me to be an  "eating rehearsal " . We ate all 10 courses that will be served at the Banquet on Saturday. Twelve family members sat around a huge round table with the classic rotating disc in the center to pass food. In the background music was playing that we thought might have been chosen for the benefit of the non-Taiwanese people in attendance ( Bill, Martha and me). It was all instrumental music but we recognized "The Way We Were" and several Christmas carols . I mentioned to Bill that little did I know when I watched  Barbara Streisand's film in 1973 that I would one day be listening to the movie theme in a banquet hall in Taipei at my daughters wedding celebration. 

 The presentation of the dishes was amazing. Very artful arrangements of a wide variety of delicious food. We tried our best to just taste a little of each but apparently strategies such as  splitting a lamb chop are not allowed or are bad manners . Now, 8 hours later, I still feel full. I am going to try to stick with only coffee all day today, but no, wait, we are going to a famous dumpling place today for lunch.  This was my idea but I planned it before I knew that I needed a couple days of fasting to recover before the wedding. 

We expect a fun day today because Joe and Kevin arrive at 5 AM. We look forward to seeing them because we love them and because they are really good eaters!