We wake up to a Friday with no rain – it was supposed to be a wet and dreary day today! We finish our school work, all the Norwegian and French that the girls try to avoid all week. Then, we have a quick lunch of soup noodles at home, before we set off on today’s adventures.
We didn’t really want to go too far, we didn’t want to hang out outside in case the cloud cover does turn into rain, and so we pick a mall and head there. This one is a tricky one to get to, but we walk to the subway station and grab a bus from there. There’s a lot of construction on the main road, so the bus stop is a temporary one. We didn’t know where the bus would stop, we were torn between two different areas, but as luck would have it, suddenly the bus appeared near where we were standing, and we made it onto the right bus.
After winding its way through a new-to-us area, we see our goal:
The ground floor lobby has a photo op, so first things first:
MegaBox is Mega alright! It’s also slightly confusing, with escalators in all directions, but only some go where you want to go. We are on the hunt for an afternoon snack, so we are quickly going as far up as we can, we’ve seen from the directory that the 12th floor is where the restaurants and cafés are. On our way up, we pass the wrong end of IKEA, the exit only end. But there is an interesting poster there, and we walk by the glass wall to the restaurant. Who’d a thunk IKEA serves lobster???
Suddenly, in the middle of one of the escalators, it gets noticeably cold. As in, not just “oh, there must be good AC on this floor, but like – “I should have brought a jacket” kind of cold. When we get to the top, and the ice skating rink opens up ahead of us, we understand why. If you have ever been to a hockey rink, you’ll understand what kind of cold we were suddenly met with in the middle of this mall…
We find a tea restaurant with a view to the ice rink, and bundle up in our cardigans. Thank goodness we’ve made a habit out of bringing them everywhere! Téa loves this restaurant long before we even order, can you see why?
Joe and I share a pork chop sandwich, with Thousand Islands dressing. One of Joe’s cousins was asking me if I knew what this dressing was the other day, and I had to laugh. This Canadian dressing is a staple around the world! The girls share an order of fries, Maylin dipping in the lemony mayonnaise, and Téa preferring the ketchup.
We sit and watch as confident skaters twirl and spin, and nervous ones learn and fall. We plan to wear warmer clothes and try it out one day, but today is not that day.
After we’re thoroughly snacked and entertained at the restaurant, we go back down all the crazy escalators. This time we find the IKEA entrance, and they’ve put basically an entire IKEA warehouse on two floors of a shopping mall. The laid out rooms on the upper floor, just like a regular store, but slightly smaller, and the shop with all the individual items (and even the warehouse aisles to pick up the parts) on the lower floor. We do not go to the restaurant, but we do pick up some cookies in the food section of the store. I mean, how could I resist?
Back on the bus, we make our way back to Plaza Hollywood, where we want to look for some clothes, and also, Joe has a plan for dinner. The bus route seems confusing, and there is so much construction everywhere. The ramps off and on the highway right here has us going in circles, and at one point we can SEE Plaza Hollywood, but we are not close enough yet.
When we finally get off the bus and walk a fairly short (but up and over the highway) distance over to the mall, we browse for a while, and pick up some new clothes for Maylin. But we also have some fun! Like at the home massage chair store, where the salesman takes the chair cushion off the massage chair for the girls to test out. BIG smiles and laughs as they shake shake shake!
Joe has been planning to take the girls to Pizza Hut at some point this week, and it just hasn’t happened yet. The girls and I almost went out for pizza yesterday while at the mall, when Joe was hanging out with his cousin, but I’m so glad he stopped me. We head up up up in the mall and over into a corner, and the girls both light up when they see where we’re headed.
After dinner, we roll out of the mall and straight into the subway, thank goodness it’s all downhill to the platform… After one stop, we walk up to the minibus, and a few minutes later, we are home. It’s late, we watch a show, and head to bed. Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Maybe the promised rain?