Here's the hall's front entrance, inside is a rather large museum and I believe a concert hall as well, and some statues. I have been inside (without camera) before, and didn't have a chance to go in again this time. If the opportunity arises, I will wander inside to get some good pictures about Taiwanese history and it's leaders. 
Outside the memorial hall they had set up a tent market wherein sellers were selling all manner of mostly dried and bottled goods. There were more than a few carnival games for the kids, and lots of people shuffling around in their winter coats in blustery 10 degree weather.
A distance shot of the tent marketplace in the hall grounds, quite a busy place for such a cold wet unplesant day. I admire the seller's spunk.
A nice gentlemanly statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founding father of modern Taiwan.
I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of this, they all came out fuzzy.
Another statue of Sun Yat-Sen, looking very fatherly. I really like this one.
Behind the Memorial Hall is this interesting stone trail which is meant to be walked on barefoot as a form of accupunctural therapy. According to some beliefs, you can access all the major organs and lines of energy in the body through the feet and putting pressure on certain points can bring health and correct illness. I have yet to try this trail myself, it looks...painful.
I decided to try and capture the texture of the theraputic stones, so here's one I took without the flash...
Another view of the stones, this one using a flash to make them clearer, just imagine walking across these babies for 100m or so in bare feet. Sounds fun to me!
This seems to be the instruction or dedication plaque for the stone trail, I apologize for not being able to get a better picture of it. At the very top if you look closely you can see the outlines of feet with the accupressure points and areas marked on them telling you what will be affected by walking down this trail I assume.
To usher in 2006, Connie and I went to see the movie Narnia, but unfortunately even though I went to get tickets the previous day I still couldn't get tickets for a showing earlier than 10pm Saturday night. As a result, while Taiwan was celebrating the clock striking 12, Connie and I were sitting in a theatre watching the end of the movie. Well, nothing wrong with that, we were together and that's what counts. It was a private New Years, but a good one.
For New Years Eve there was a big show at Taipei 101 and over 400,000 people came to the Hsin-Yi area around 101 to watch concerts and see a spectacular fireworks show which lasted 128 seconds and involved fireworks being launched from every tier of Taipei 101. In this picture you can see that the New Years show was sponsored by Sony (who also happen to be one of the companies I teach at) and in trade they got to advertise their new product Bravia, on Taipei 101's four sides. Of course, nobody I know has idea idea what Bravia is, so I'm just assuming it's a new product. Maybe I should ask my students.
For Christmas Eve, Connie and I went to see the movie The Family Stone, with Sarah-Jessica Parker (of Sex and the City fame) because we thought a light romantic comedy would be a good Christmas Eve choice. As it turned out, it was a Christmas movie and more of a drama than a comedy, but better than I expected, and perfect Christmas Eve material as it made you think about the importance of family during the holidays. We followed it up with a light dinner and a walk around the area, a nice quiet romantic Christmas Eve.
So, for Christmas Day Brunch I went out with Connie, her mother (pictured here), her Brother Li-Wei and her brother's girlfriend Yu-Mei for a nice Chinese buffet. They weren't serving turkey and mashed potatoes, but they did serve some great desserts, so I was quite happy and full afterwards. Boxing Day is also Connie's brother's birthday (poor guy), so this was really more of a birthday brunch, but it also served as Christmas brunch as well. Afterwards Li-Wei and Yu-Mei parted ways with us, and Conne, her mother and I went off to see the historic Long Shan temple, Taiwan's oldest temple.
Here's Li-Wei, looking stylish with his new haircut and ready to turn 31 and start a new stage of his life. I wish him luck in the new year, he's got a big year ahead of him with his research project.
This lovely lady is Yu-Mei, Li-Wei's charming girlfriend and a local dentist. (My dentist here in Taipei, in fact!) A bubbling, smiling and happy person.
