Today was an eventful day. I woke up early at around 5am shivering from the cold. That's even with three blankets already wrapped around me. It's nicer though than waking up all sweaty from the heat in Manila. After we had our coffee, we started our city touring. There were lots of places in the itinerary I planned but we ended up spending the entire morning in Burnham Park.
This park was named after Daniel Hidson Burnham, an american architect who designed the land use pattern concentrating on the park itself. There are various activities that park goers can do. As a matter of fact, for the short time that we were there, we were able to do 4 different things and we had a light breakfast at one of the food stalls inside the park.
The first thing that we did is ride the Swan Boats. There are lots of different boats you can choose from. We wanted the swan boat itself, but even that, you can choose from a pedal boat or a paddle boat. My husband chose paddle boat, which I was thankful for because my legs are still sore from the running I did last Monday, plus that impromptu mini hike we did yesterday. Here, we experienced using the paddleboards. I can say first hand that it was not easy. Plus the water was really dirty, if you don't want dirty water splashing all over you, stay away from the Swan boats. We didn't mind so we paddled our way through the morning. The Swan boat ride costs Php200.
When we got off the boats, the little kiddo wanted to wear those Igorot costumes and have her photo taken. I'm surprised these traditional photographers are still in business, what with smart camera phones, their market must have been really low. It's not that expensive, actually. At Php75 per photo, you can have your photo taken while you wear the traditional cloting of the Igorots. I was wearing my crochet jacket and crochet earrings, and was holding the crochet scarf I made for my daughter. I felt so proud when the ladies at the Igorot costume station praised my handiwork. They even asked if I'm selling my crochet works. It turns out, they too, are crocheters and took a moment to admire my crochet earrings.
After our photos have been taken, it will take some 30 minutes for the photos to bw printed out so while waiting, we decided to rent a bike for the little one. The rental fee for her bike of choice was Php150 per hours. Wr did not finish the entire hour because we had to keep moving already. Our photos were also already available so we went back to take them.
On the way back, I saw a taho vendor and immediately remembered I wanted to taste the famous strawberry taho. At first I ws skeptic because it might not taste as good as it seemed. But the rumors are true! It was delicious! There were even some strawberry bits in it. A cup of strawberry taho is worth Php50, a bit much if it's just regular taho, but with all those strawberriness I tasted, I would go back for a second cup!
We're not breakfast people and we like to have the first meal of the day at around 1PM but we saw this little food stall near the Swan Boats, the Le' Bloom Cafe. They have a lot of drinks on their menu but what caught our attention was the Strawberry Donut Sandwich. It was only Php100 so we ordered one each. It actualky delivered! It's not too sweet for a donut, I love the cream ajd of course, it has a generous serving of strawberries in between. I even joked "Sa unang kagat, steawberry lahat!" Because your first bite would most definitely be just strawberries. I thought that would be all, but as I dug in, up to my last bite, there's strawberry to enjoy. You might want to give this little cafe a try if you happen to go to Burnham Park.
Aside from all these activities we enjoyed, there's lots of flowers, and flower beds, and bees all around. My eyes had a feast of natures beauty being well taken care of by the park. There's so many flowers to enjoy. Best of all, there's sunflowers all around. If it were ip to me, I'd stay the whole day in there. But then, this entire tripwas really up to me but I wanted my little one to enjoy more of Baguio and La Trinidad so we had to leave. I'll tell you more about our vacation tomorrow! For now, toodaloo!
