Hall-Reppens in Singapore: Saturday was a Day of Good - and Not-So-Good

Rich and I were planning a low-key day on Saturday. Rich had a haircut appointment (thank goodness!), and we were going to the pool. Right after lunch, I got a call from Michelle, however. Her sister had booked a room for their parents at the "Marina Bay Sands Hotel". Michelle wanted to know if I would like to come to see the hotel, and have some tea, and do a little sightseeing. That sounded really fun, especially because I usually do all of my sightseeing alone. It would be so fun having someone so knowledgeable taking me around. I asked Rich if he minded, gave him jobs to do, and headed out to meet Michelle.

When I got to the car, I found out that she had intended for Rich to come along, too. I immediately called him on his cell phone, texted him, and called him on the phone phone. I got no response, which I found a little strange, but there was a traffic jam in front of our apartment, and the guards kept telling Michelle to move, so we left without him.

Michelle's husband, Ben, and the two older boys, Alex and Max, were at a Chinese writing workshop. Michelle told me that she was very unpopular for scheduling that workshop on the last day of Spring Break, but this teacher was supposed to be very helpful in the skills the boys would need to learn Chinese properly. So it was just me, Michelle, and the always-delightful Ollie.

When we got to the hotel, Michelle's sister was just registering. Because it was close to 3 PM, the registration area was quite busy. Besides being a hotel, the Marina Bay Sands is also a casino. Many people wanted to get settled into their rooms, so they could hit the casino! We headed up to the bar and restaurant on the 57th floor, along with Michelle's sister, Denise, for some drinks and nibbles and a GREAT view of Singapore.

Ollie was a bit hungry, so Michelle ordered chicken nuggets, and an appetizer pizza. The pizza came with chips, which Ollie loves, but he said these chips were too sour. I tasted one, and it was a wasabi flavored chip. I love wasabi! Luckily, no one else in the group does, so I was forced to eat all the chips by myself. Darn! Michelle had some ginger ale, Ollie had water, Denise had a beer, and I had my first Singapore Sling since coming to Singapore. It was tasty, but not worth the price! Of course, all of their signature cocktails were $20, as you're paying for the view. Denise saw people at the next table eating oysters, which she loves, so she ordered some for us, too. They were very tasty! When the check arrived, I offered to chip in, but Denise was using her points to pay for that wonderful experience. How fun!!!

It was now time to get wristbands, and head into the pool area. The pool is outdoors, on the 57th floor, with a glass wall, so it looks like you could just float off the edge of the world! Fun and Scary at the same time! Michelle explained that there is a ledge on the other side, so if you did go over, you wouldn't fall to your death. Good to know! Then Michelle, Denise, and Ollie walked me around the deck, showing me the sights of Singapore. They showed me the new Financial District on reclaimed land, where my apartment is, the place where the Formula One Racing will place in September, the Ritz Carlton in which I stayed in 1998, etc. It was so much fun, even though it was a bit overcast. They told me that it costs $25 per person to come up to the top floor if you're not a hotel guest. I was just reaping the benefits of having Michelle as a friend!!!

Michelle's boys' class ended at 6 PM, so we bid adieu to the Marina Bay Sands, and headed over to pick them up. Denise had given me her wristband, so that I could bring Rich back up to the hotel that evening, and share some of the sights with him. Michelle and Ben also offered to pick us up when they headed back to the hotel, after taking the boys to a birthday party.

When I returned to our apartment, I found Rich hard at work on taxes. He had finished 2 of the kids' taxes, and 2 of our LLC's, but he still had a way to go. I told him that Michelle had intended for him to come along, and I had called and texted his cell phone, as well as calling the home phone. He then checked his phone, and saw the missed calls and the text, but didn't ever hear the home ring. Upon further investigation, we found that I had 1 wrong digit in the number that I had saved in my contacts. So, I've been giving the wrong home phone number to people for 7 weeks!!!

Because he was kind of tired from doing taxes, and he knew that he still had to work on them on Sunday, he wanted to stay in the area for dinner that night. He wanted to try the little Italian place where I had eaten a pizza the previous week.

When we arrived at "da Mario Pizzeria", it was still a bit early, so it wasn't very crowded yet. We were given a nice table for 2, which was marked "Reserved", but the waiter said that the people hadn't shown, so the table was ours. We ordered a delightful salad that contained hot mushrooms, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes, as well as a cold lettuce salad with sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. I had a glass of red Italian wine, and Rich had a Perrone beer. I ordered lasagna (as I have to try the lasagna at EVERY Italian restaurant, to find the best), and Rich ordered crabmeat raviolis, which were listed as slightly spicy. At this point, the restaurant became quite busy. Tables were turning over as soon as people left. All available help was clearing tables, shifting tables, taking orders, bringing food, etc. Our food came, and both dishes were very tasty. I noticed, though, that we had never been given a basket of bread. I thought that was odd, especially since they had given me a basket of bread when I ordered a pizza. Who needs bread when they're eating pizza? But when you're having a salad and saucy entrees, bread is nice. I had drunk my whole glass of wine, and Rich had drunk most of his beer, and we had both finished our water. We needed refills! The head waitress came by, grabbed my wine glass, and said, "May I?" I told her that would be delightful, thinking she was going to refill my glass. That was not the case! They must have run out of glasses, so she needed mine for another customer. The fume was starting... When we next got her attention, we asked for our check, and I asked her to wrap my leftover 1/2 of my lasagna. All the Italian restaurants give such big portions, I usually cut my entree in half and save it for a future lunch. Especially after all of my afternoon nibbles, I was sure to have leftovers. It took awhile for her to return, which was troubling. When she finally came back, she told me the kitchen help had thrown my leftover lasagna away. She would be glad to give us a 50% discount on the lasagna, as I hadn't finished it. Rich could see that I was pissed, so he took the discount, paid the check, and shooed me out of there before I exploded!

We headed down the river, to see some of the other places we could eat in the future, as I will not go back there! We headed back to our apartment, grabbed some wine and some beer, and had a nightcap by the pool. Because Rich knew that I was upset, he even indulged me by listening to a synopsis of the book I had just finished, Team of Rivals. Rich finally got to meet Kjersten, as she and Buddy were returning from a walk. I was very happy that Buddy was slobbering me with kisses, until I realized later that he was just kissing me because I was all salty from sweating! Oh well, whatever it takes to get puppy kisses, as I miss my dogs so much...

Just as we returned to our apartment, we got a call from a very grouchy Erin. We had tried to call her earlier, but had called after she went to bed. The time difference really makes it difficult to communicate with our families and friends! After talking to Erin for a little while, it was time for bed. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized that neither of us had locked the apartment door, as Erin's call came just as we returned. Luckily, no one ventured up to the 10th floor of Tower A2 looking for an unlocked door!