Day 8 - 18 Dec 2019

Today, we made a day trip to Antwerp, one of the city in Belgium.

It was a slow start. We had breakfast in the hotel room; thanks to wife who made a trip to the train station in the morning to get breakfast for me and the kids.

The ride was about close to an hour. Upon reaching Antwerp, the whole group of us headed to MacDonald for breakfast as some of us haven’t had breakfast (or perhaps it was brunch since it was about 1045am).

After brunch, we were (probably) on our way to the Magical Winter Forest which was in front of the cathedral on the Handschoenmarkt when we spotted a pop-up ice skating rink that changed our entire plan. H and Le were so insistent on ice-skating and the youngest one was probably echoing whatever that his brother and his cousin opined. In the end, we caved in to their demands but it was worth it as it was to their greatest delight.

There were a few makeshift stalls around the ice skating rink. We packed our lunch and had them near the rink while the three of them (H, Le and Yu) were having a great time ice skating.

After the ice skating, it was more fun. The kids came to the Magical Winter Forest and played at this gigantic Fun House. They sure sounded like they had a lot of fun.

Next, they went for a ride up the Ferris Wheel. The 5 min ride didn’t feel long as throughout the whole time, the kids were giggling and laughing at god-knows-what in the cabins. I had to remind them not to shake so much as it didn’t safe to be swinging like a pendulum up in the air.

Back on the land after the Ferris Wheel ride, we headed to De Muze Jazz Cafe. Though there wasn’t live jazz music as it was only about 430pm, the vibe was good. It felt good to be enjoying some piped (jazz) music over a cup of cappuccino.

After tea break, it was dinner at Pasta Hippo Vino. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the find. The ambience was good and the food was great. I had pasta and a cup of nice hot mint tea.

We took the train back to Brussels. I believe the kids had a lot of fun; the adults merely chaperoned them. But it felt great to end the night with a pleasantly nice dinner.

After I’ve prepared for bed and finished writing this post, I hit the sack at about 1030pm.