Tagaytay City Getaway: Day 2

December 11, we woke just before dawn. That's one thing about having kids, your body is trained to wake up   so early so even if we were not with them, we were already up by 530am.

This is the highlight of our trip, breakfast at Antonio's! The place was really grand and majestic with white high ceilings and walls and dark wood furnishings. Feels like you're in a Mafia movie hehe.

The main entrance. You will be greeted by the family's gallery of photos, painting and antiques as you enter

very enchanting jeweled painting

a close up of the jeweled painting

at the foyer area which serves as a gallery of Escalante memorabilia

inside the dining area are these heavy looking white chandeliers. 

Interior of the breakfast area. Lunch is served at the second floor

The breakfast menu were all enticing, it took us a while before deciding. I ordered french toast with bacon on the side and hot chocolate while Stephen ordered Antonio's burger with extra egg and cheddar cheese and their house blend coffee.
I tasted the hot choco not really expecting anything but when the hot liquid touched my tongue, I was in heaven for 5 seconds. The chocolatiest and creamiest hot drink I ever tasted :)

hot choco petit P70.

french toast P295.00, bacon P90.00. Really good and very filling. Served with syrup if you want it sweet. 

burger for P385 with extra egg P30 and cheese P30. This is really unforgettable, so tasty and keeps a touch of Filipino taste. 

they keep the place clean and tidy :0

interior that leads to the rest rooms which are designed al fresco.

After breakfast, we headed to Good Shepherd to ube halaya (purple yam) and atsara (pickled veggies). Oh, you have to try their atsara, so good with combination of sweet and sour! Of course, Good Shepherd boasts of their ube halaya which is just enough sweetness.

On our way back to Sta. Rosa exit, we passed by this place. After seeing the huge Our Lady of Manaog statue, we decided to stop over. We thought it was a church but it's more of a meditation area. It is quite a small place with so much things going on, there's a prayer room that holds different pocket areas for different types of prayer requests, there's a meditation garden (that's really not), there's a candle burning area and a fish spa. It's a place of sorts that somehow feels wrong, the prayer room has Santa Claus decors beside the cross, weird... and there's something for a sale everywhere. Somehow I felt sad, it's like God was used for business. After coming to this place, we went to real church to pray and feel the solemnity of a sacred place. 

Our Lady of Manaog as exterior display while the Risen Christ adorns the fish spa. Is this really