twelve

Jaykie and I celebrated our first anniversary together in Tagaytay. The weekend! The wind! A quiet hotel stay! Food! Alcohol!

I’ve been to Tagaytay before, but that was back in grade school, back when I still hated buses and long rides and was prone to paralyzing motion sickness. So of course I had no fond memories of the place, except that it was cold. Since then I’ve learned to love looking out the window while in transit, so when Jaykie mentioned Tagaytay months before the anniversary, I was excited. We needed a weekend away from Metro Manila. We needed a good view and a cool breeze.

We settled on Taal Vista Hotel. Around the time we were planning to place a reservation (end of September), Taal Vista had just wrapped up a promo, which was sad because their room rates were a bit pricey. When October rolled in, I called their sales office in Mall of Asia to ask if there was going to be a promo extension. I was delighted to hear the sales agent say that yes, there would be another promo. Starting October 15.

The exact day we planned to go there. This is a siiiign.

We immediately placed a reservation for a De Luxe room (3,999/night) from Oct. 15 to the 17th. Note: You’ll need an SM Advantage Card or other SM membership cards (BDO, Prestige) to avail, so go get one first. You’ll also need a credit card, because this is a book-and-buy promo. But they won’t charge you yet; they just need a guarantee. You can choose to pay in cash when you get there.

Tagaytay, Day 1

We arrived too early. The sales agent I spoke to said if the room’s available we can actually check in by noon, but the front desk was adamant in saying that check-in was at 2 p.m. FINE! Jaykie thought the front desk was masungit, but meh, we might as well just drive around and have lunch first.

Pictures!

Lunch was at Buon Giorno.

I was very very very happy with my salad. (Foie Gras Insalata.) I loved the pecan caramels. :D

Jaykie had a risotto. (Pollo E Funghi.)

We had a slice of chocolate espresso torte for dessert.

We got back to the hotel at half-past one, and we were finally able to get into our room.

Jaykie looks guilty here. What did you do? Haha.

Unfortunately the room didn’t have a view of Taal Lake. Oh well.

Dinner was at the hotel’s Cafe on the Ridge, plus welcome drinks (calamansi juice) and alcohol at the Lobby Lounge. (You can use your SM Advantage Card to get a 10 percent discount.)

Good night, Tagaytay!

Tagaytay, Day 2

Good morning, Tagaytay!

The Lobby Lounge in the morning.

After breakfast, we went out for a stroll. The weather was nice.

The wind!

It was basically just a day of lounging around. We dressed up and went back to Buon Giorno for dinner, then went back to the room and watched something scary on Discovery. We ended up sleeping with the lights on! Ha!

Tagaytay, Day 3

I woke up with this stupid vertigo, so Jaykie was kind enough to get up and buy us breakfast from McDo, just across the street. While outside, Jaykie sent me a text saying he had switched the papers between our room and the next, because we were given [a certain newspaper that I shall not name]. Jaykie snatched up the Inquirer and put it on our door handle, and I got up and took it before somebody realized this folly. LOL.

It was a day of errands, but Jaykie’s driver took care of it. Mahogany Market, then Rowena’s. You should go to Rowena’s! I sampled their tarts, apple crumble, and sylvanas.

We had lunch at Antonio’s Grill. Sizzling bulalo!

Oh, it was delicious.

Then back to the metro. We had a mall date at MOA, saw The Town (Ben Affleck, that was a pleasant surprise. You should direct more movies!), had some Mediterranean food, and bought each other books!

My anniv gifts from Jaykie:

Here are the books I gave him:

So, yes, that weekend rocked.

* * *

Love,

We should do this again.

Love,