The Eagles have landed...

...home!

Checkout 2pm, flight departure 10.45pm required a bit of filling in today so this morning we went by Metro to Gardens by the Bay, another example of what this country/city is capable of developing when money is no object.

We had visited here before, approximately 6-8 years ago when it was in its infancy but now that it has matured it is really a delightful area to wander around in as it has been planned to perfection.

There are various gardens all linked by wide walkways and each garden area is themed differently 

From the gardens there is a very nice view of the Marina Sands where we had our meal last night.A tree in the gardens that intrigued us was the Cannonball Tree with its perfectly formed fruit growing not from the branches but from the trunk itself.
After a couple of hours we returned back to the hotel to have another shower as the humidity had caused the body to overheat before we packed the suitcases for one last time and around 2pm took the taxi out to the airport - a rather cheap taxi it has to be said being half the cost that we were charged on the way in, which we have some difficulty figuring out!

Luckily there is facility to have an early check in so we got rid of the suitcases and found a cafe for a late lunch. The problem was now how to fill in 8 hours before lift off and again Singapore has the solution as a new facility adjacent to the airport was opened in June, The Jewels consisting of (sigh) 240 odd shops and eating places, but more interestingly a central 5? level waterfall and various other areas such as the Canopy Walk which we did.

Not only did it pass a few hours it was also an enjoyable and colourful environment to be in, though some may well say that it is an extravagance however it is a strategy of Singapore to develop Changi Airport so that it is the stopover choice in this part of the world for tourists. I read that they have planned a new Terminal which will be completed by 2030 and will be bigger than Terminals 1,2,3&4 combined and if you have ever walked through Terminal 3 where we were today and marvelled at the size of that terminal then the new one is going to be something colossal.

A few more hours spent either in the lounge or wandering up and down the Terminal (we walked slightly over 6 kms after arriving at the airport) and it was onto the big bird and a relatively quick flight home (9 hours instead of 10.5).

So ends our 2019 holiday - new sights, new sounds, new smells but above all thoroughly enjoyable!

Cheers

The haze has lifted...

... at least partially today. We are told that the cause is a burn off in Indonesia (must be some burn off) and is an annual event.

We had a meal last night in the heart of the Muslim area almost adjacent to the mosque. The streets looked very inviting once the lights took effect.
Sleep didn’t come easy as the body seemed stuck on European time, though for the character below he has no difficulty at anytime of the day. We have seen him on all recent visits to Singapore as he rests under a covered area of our hotel - whether he makes a living taking tourists around is problematic 

While Sherry was at the hairdressers I had a walk around the mall and took photos of two McLarens - 750S & 570S - as well as a Ferrari 


After lunch we took the metro to Marina South Pier thinking that there was a broad walk there that we had strolled along on a previous visit but either they have moved it or it is somewhere else in the area. We were able to get a glimpse of the Marina Sands where we had dinner in the rooftop restaurant Ce La Vi, tonight.

Mid afternoon we wandered through the very stately Raffles Hotel which in recent years has undergone extensive renovations and which is a hotel of extreme beauty and not inexpensive - cheapest room SGD1049/night breakfast not included, dearest suite SGD10079/night and I assume plus 10% service charge and 7% GST which are applied in hotels and restaurants. It’s one of those places where if you have to ask the price you probably can’t afford to stay there!


The car below had the most mirror like paint job on any car we have seenThe view from the restaurant was very impressive particularly the darker it got - the F1 track made a good sight as did a golf course (all lit up) and of course the city itself.

After we check out tomorrow (late checkout requested) it will be out to the airport for a 10.15 pm departure for home but we will have time to have a few hours wandering around the Jewels which is the new addition to Changi Airport.

Perhaps one more blog in a day or two.

Is 110% Humidity Possible?

Not sure that it is but today the humidity in Singapore was right up there and sweat dripped from the body profusely whenever we were out in the open!

In bed last night by 6pm and slept through to around 7am this morning which cleared all the fuzz from the head.

After breakfast we left the hotel and walked into Orchard Rd, a street that you either love because of the  many shopping malls that are prolific there or hate because of the many shopping malls....

We looked for a restaurant for lunch that we had been to last trip and which sold New York style Reuben sandwiches but in the two years since has permanently closed however in the same centre found another that was suitable.

After lunch we took on the Metro (far easier and more modern than Paris) and went out to the Botanic Gardens which were Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage site (inscribed in 2015) and which in the orchid gardens has over 60,000 plants.

The gardens are approximately 74 hectares in area and from the gate we entered to the one we exited was a walk of 2.3kms and we barely scratched the surface of it.

The layout and the different plants and trees made for an enjoyable (if a little sweaty) afternoon 

There were also a couple of interesting creatures we sighted

We came out the “Tanglin Gate” exit hoping to find a close metro station but had to walk into and down part of Orchard Rd before we were able to jump on the metro to get us back to the hotel.

Shortly we will be back out there to get to the Italian restaurant we have booked for dinner.

Bumpy bumpy

During our driving in France we must have gone over literally a hundred road humps designed to slow traffic down and today’s flight felt very much the same. There was a constant shudder (not significant but enough flexing of the plane to get ones attention) of the A380 from the time we climbed out of Paris until we landed here in Singapore, which made sleeping only something we could dream about and as a consequence the heads have been very foggy/glazed over all day much like the city here which has had a haze over it all day.

Touch down was 40 minutes early, a relatively quick movement through the airport and into a taxi arriving at the hotel around 7.30am - luckily for us our room was available so we were able to get in and unpack etc. and then spend a few hours waiting for Singapore to wake up before we ventured out.

As both heads of hair need some attention the first thing we did was find the salon Sherry used two years ago when we last stayed here on the way back from Europe to make an appointment and having done that I frequented a barber shop and had a trim - the cutter was somewhere on the LGBT scale however he/she did a reasonable job, thankfully.

With the F1 being this weekend there are a lot of road closures in force so making our way to the mall where we remembered it to be was an exercise - through the Suntec mall and across the “air bridge”  to the next mall - Singapore is a city of large shopping centres and monstrous hotels including the stately old lady, Raffles.

By this time I was in need of some shut eye so it was back to the hotel while Sherry went to another shopping centre. After a very early meal in a Korean restaurant in Raffles City it was to be lights out as soon as I had written our daily travel blog.

A review of the last few days of our 2017 travel diary will show a photo of statues of dogs outside Raffles City - that statue has been replaced by a new one.

It is done!

Paris is done! We are done!

Paris city has a population of 2.1m and the Greater Region of Paris just over 12m and I think over the weekend we have seen everyone of them!

Late this morning it was back on the RER B train to Gard de Nord and then on the metro to Anvers to visit the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre. This Basilica sits on the highest point in the city, is the second most visited monument in Paris, was constructed in the period 1875-1914 and is a building of great beauty.

Even though it was a Sunday out of holiday season the environs were absolutely crowded. At the time of our visit there was a service coming to a conclusion but that didn’t stop us or others walking around inside the Basilica and admiring everything about it, particularly the frescoes in the ceiling From the area adjacent there is a view of ET standing tall in another part of the cityWe stopped at a “foodie” store on the way back to the Metro and were taken with the numerous copies of the significant Paris monuments created in chocolate Back on the metro and it was across town to view another majestic structure 

Arc de Triomphe which sits at the top of

as if it was designed to look down and protect this tree lined Avenue

We walked down one side (as you do) passing all the high end stores before crossing over and coming up the other side in an absolute mass of humanity. 

It was a delightful environment to be in.

Back on the metro and off to the Notre Dame area again, which as best we can tell is central Paris, for dinner before heading back out to the airport so completing our refresh of Paris.

It has been a very enjoyable weekend enhanced by the superb weather which we understand has been a little unseasonal.

And so our latest European odyssey is over as at midday tomorrow we fly through to Singapore.

We have seen a lot, we have done a lot, we have had great conversations with hosts we have stayed with and fellow English speaking tourist and we have enjoyed our interactions with the Danes, Swedes, Swiss and French folk we have had contact with.

Will we be back? Who knows!

Au revoir France and we hope at least you are beaten finalists in the Rugby World Cup.

Paris, the romantic city

Even though we flew out of Paris two years ago on that trip we never ventured into the city so it was on our itinerary this time to revisit the sights that we had seen many years ago and we weren’t disappointed.

The train from the airport takes about 35 minutes and we alighted at St-Michel Notre Dame - having risen from the bowels of the underground we (and hundreds of others) were standing in front of the sad looking Notre Dame Cathedral 

It will be many years before She is restored to her former beauty 

We were taken aback by the share volume of people in the city, and if the number of people aboard the boats on the Seine are an indication tourism in Paris is thriving

We started the walk from the Notre Dame along the riverbank towards the Eiffel Tower and soaked in all the sights along the way starting with

The Pont Neuf 

and then 

The Louvre

all the time admiring the many house boats and working boats on or tied up on the Seine

as well as the utterly majestic buildings all around us

and finally we got our first glimpse of ET 

and enjoyed lunch on one of the restaurant boats (everyone was on the top deck for lunch & so were we) before continuing on to look up at the majestic ET

and then climbing the stairs to the Place du Trocadero which gives that fantastic view of ET with the lovely grassed area in the background 

though the vista was spoiled by two cranes!

An eventful trip on the Metro took us back to the Notre Dame area where we sat outside a Starbucks and watched “the world go by” while enjoying a coffee (a little white lie there as a request for “top up with hot milk” was interpreted as a request for “soy milk”).

Later it was back down below and on the train back out to the hotel.

A great day!