Date Night

Since Jakob arrived, Alex and I have only spent one evening together without him. We really enjoy going out for dinner or to the theater. So it was about time for us as a couple.

For my 30th birthday, my dear in-laws gave me a ride on the Singapore Flyer; including a Singapore Sling (the cocktail you have to try here!). Last Friday, we finally redeemed this gift and my mother looked after Jakob in the meantime.

I had been very excited all day and felt like a teenager about to have her first date. I pondered over what to wear, what to do with my hair, and how to avoid arriving in the city completely sweaty. The train ride felt like an eternity and at around 6 pm, I stood on time in front of the Bank of China building, waiting for Alex. Every time a tall, dark-haired man in a white shirt and briefcase left the building, my heart skipped a beat. He came, he smiled when he saw me, and we set off to find a restaurant. I didn't care at all where we ate (which is not so obvious, as I am very picky when it comes to the appearance of restaurants). But today it didn't matter to me. I just wanted to have a nice evening with my husband. So we went to a restaurant right by the river. Unfortunately, due to the trees in front of it, we didn't have a good view of the Marina Bay Hotel or the Flyer, but we knew that we would see the Flyer up close later. We shared delicious parmesan fries as an appetizer and as usual, we switched our main courses. Alex promised me ice cream for dessert later.

On the way to the Flyer, we were accompanied by music from a string orchestra playing that evening. With a view of the skyline, it was really beautiful. When we arrived at the Flyer, we were allowed to take a seat in the VIP lounge. We had not expected that. We were then picked up separately and led past the other waiting people into a separate queue. They told us that our gondola was number 28. 28. Our monthly anniversary. Our engagement anniversary. And our wedding anniversary. So one of our lucky numbers. When it arrived, we got in. Beforehand, we joked that it would be funny if we had the gondola to ourselves. But we saw that usually 6-10 people occupied a gondola. But... we were actually alone. Instead of benches, we had two small 'sofas', nuts were ready, and a gentleman briefly joined us, handed us our Singapore Slings (a mocktail for me), wished us a pleasant ride, and then left. There we were. Accompanied by romantic love songs in our private gondola. For about half an hour, we could admire Singapore at night from above and just be alone.

Afterwards, I received the promised ice cream and we strolled back to the MRT to return to a peacefully sleeping baby who had apparently behaved very well according to Grandma.