Kim and Peter's European Adventure

Singapore 13/10/09
I know I said that I probably wouldn’t post from Singapore but I couldn’t resist letting you know about the hotel we are staying in. It is called the Pan Pacific and it is on Raffles Boulevard. Well what can I say! The nice young man at the desk told us that they had upgraded our room and he hoped we would like it. Well we more than liked it. It is a suite with 2 rooms overlooking the pool and onto the central Singapore shopping area. We couldn’t believe it. It was like nothing we had ever stayed in before, it even made the Shangri-Lai in Sydney seem like just another hotel room and that is pretty good by anyone’s standards. Peter does take me to all the best places but I think it might have to be back to camping after this holiday.
The front room has a dining table that seats 4, with a lounge and chairs which face a HD tv and a stereo system as well all decked out in very nice wood panelling throughout. The bedroom has a good size desk as well as a four poster king size bed and the bathroom is almost as big as some of the hostel rooms we stayed in! It is simply unbelievable.
The pool is very nice and a nice area to relax by.
The foyer has an atrium which looks up to the many floors above, it also has a fountain and a wine vault. It also has glass lifts that on our side of the hotel go up in the atrium and for the other side they go up on the outside of the building. As we are going to Raffles tomorrow night for dinner I thought I should have my haircut even though I was going to leave it until I got home but I feel I need to look a little less shaggy than I am at the moment. That will be an interesting experience.
I will post some pictures as this is the only place I think I will get my camera out in Singapore, as I think I have worn it out over the past 7 weeks, it is starting to show signs of wear as the lens goes in and out when being turned on. I will have to find somewhere to have it serviced and give it a rest.
We are looking forward to coming home as we have missed home especially in the last 2 weeks.
Look forward to seeing you all soon.

London 11/10/09
We had a very relaxed day today walking around London enjoying the sights instead of sitting in a bus and having to follow a flag waving guide (as you can tell we really over the tour guide experience). We caught the underground to Westminster to get a good look at the Houses of Parliament and there was a half marathon being run this time the runners were in purple tshirts not orange like in Florence. We continued on our day and went for a walk through St James’ Park where we saw some squirrels running along the grass not worrying about the many people stopping to try and feed them. We walked past the Guards House and took some photos of one of the Grenadier Guards standing outside, two on horses and one at the gate. Lots of people were taking photos with them but I resisted. It was then onto Covent Garden. There were lots of people out and about with street musicians, performers and a food festival as well. There was also a craft market with handmade jewellery etc very interesting. By this time we had churned through a good part of the day again just wandering and looking.
As it started to rain we came back to the hotel for Peter to have an afternoon siesta. I had a pleasant time reading my book.
We went to dinner at a pub near the hotel and had a traditional roast beef dinner. The pub was called the Anchor and was on the site of the First Globe Theatre. The interior was very old world. The food was good and we were glad that we had made the effort. Tomorrow we are off to watch the Changing of the Guard before getting ready to take a late flight to Singapore.

London 12/10/09
Again sunny skies! What did everyone say about London weather, maybe the gods were making up for all the rain we had at the beginning of our holiday. We went to watch the Changing of the Guard with about 1000 others but it was a very interesting site, full of pomp and ceremony. We walked to Trafalgar Square to get a couple of other things and then made our way back to the hotel to pack.
We packed in record time as we had another bag of souvenirs to pack and then go to lunch before making our way to the airport. The end of our holiday is almost upon us and we are ready to go home.
I might be able to post in Singapore but if not can’t , can I say thank you for reading and we will look forward to seeing you all when we arrive home on Friday. Four more sleeps and we will be sleeping in our own beds after what can only be a most fantastic experience which I will remember for the rest of my life.

London 9/10/09
We woke to fine weather toady but had a late start again due to me again. We were watching the news when we saw that the Queen was attending a service at St Paul’s Cathedral and we were actually in the vicinity of what we were watching, which I must admit was a bit surreal, as we watch things like this all the time at home and they are so far away. It was fascinating as all the streets around the cathedral were closed off, so it was probably fortuitous as we wouldn’t have been able to get around on the bus.
We walked to a starting point across the Millennium Bridge past the Old Globe Theatre and the Tate Gallery for our hop-on hop-off bus tour of London. As we walked the weather started to cloud over but this didn’t bother us as we are used to it by now. We boarded the bus at the Embankment and went towards Trafalgar Square, then curved around Mayfair towards Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. We got off and took a couple of photos of Buckingham Palace and got a picture of the standard flying which means that the Queen is in residence. I was very impressed with the whole experience as I have seen it so many times and it was nice to actually see it for real. We hopped back on the bus and past a few more landmarks and got off to have lunch at Sherlock Holmes’ Pub. We had traditional fish ’n chips lunch and a welcome warm place as the temperature was dropping and the wind was coming up.
We went for a bit of a walk and surprise, surprise Peter found a bookshop. He has outread me 2 to 1 so in every city he has bought a book to read. We also bought a small suitcase to bring souvenirs home in as our other cases are getting heavy. We found our way back to the bus tour just as it was starting to rain. We arrived back at the hotel and looked at some of the photos we had taken from the bus and decided that we might have to go back and do some again as from the bus it is often hard to get a good shot.
After some discussion, we decided that we would probably do that on Sunday instead of doing our England in One Day Tour, as the thought of another 12 hour day on a bus didn’t really appeal especially as we would arrive home late and then have to pack for our departure the next day and a 12 hour flight to Singapore. I am disappointed that we will miss out on seeing Shakespeare’s home town, Bath and Stonehenge but Peter has assured me we will be back at another time and I think we are both over the tourist type group tour at the moment.

London 10/10/09
We woke again to sunny skies which certainly makes a difference to the rain we thought we would be dealing with in London. We did a leisurely walk to the Tower of London along the Thames Path and arrived just in time for a guided tour from one of the Beefeater Guards, official title Yeoman Warder. He was very good and took us through some of the history at certain points within the tower walls. It is a lot bigger than I expected (as with most things I have found out by now). There are various different towers which have their own specific history as well as living quarters for the Yeoman who live there and are locked in at 10 o’clock every night. They have their own pub which tonight was going to have an October Fest night. To be a Yeoman you had to have served for at least 20 years in the Army, Air Force or Royal Marines and have reached the rank of Sergeant Major and have left the service with the good Conduct medal and according to our guide be drop dead gorgeous! Their dress is also part of their job as you can see by the pictures. After our guided tour we were left to our own devices and our first stop was the Crown Jewels, which were an impressive sight. They are not only ceremonial but an expensive collection of rare jewels including the biggest single diamond in the world. The ceremonial maces and swords which have been used for generations were beautiful in themselves, glittering gold and very heavy. Peter particularly liked the ceremonial banquet items especially the bowl that holds 144 bottles of wine in one go! The goblets that went with it would hold a far bit as well.
The next section we looked at was the armouries of Henry VIII. Lots of armour plating, swords and battle gear. It was very interesting as the armour itself would have weighed a ton and as Henry VIII got older he also got fatter and his armour would have had to weigh more. We looked through various other parts of the tower and had a nice morning tea of scones with jam and clotted cream. Overall a very interesting tour and few hours.
We decided to tackle the London underground to make our way to Harrods and it was quite easy. We arrived and spent a short time having a look through the food hall which was amazing. There are little bar type arrangements where you can eat, one being the oyster and champagne bar where a dozen oysters would set you back about $75 Australian and you were sitting on a bar stool while everyone shopped around you! A fantastic site nonetheless. It was very crowded with very little space even on the escalators moving between floors, but on a balcony overlooking the same escalators was an opera singer singing to the crowds. I would hate to see it at Christmas! We got we came for and left but I can say I have been to Harrods!
By this time it was nearly 4o’clock and after some lunch made our way back to our end of town. We got off the train at Cannon Street station and just up the road was St Paul’s Cathedral, so rather than come back tomorrow we (or rather I) decided to walk and take some photos and have a look inside. Peter stayed sitting outside which was fine. The inside of the cathedral was beautiful and there was also a Saturday evensong service happening. While I was just having a look on my own I thought it would have been good to do a guided tour in order to fully understand and appreciate the history. I can actually remember when Charles married Diana and the length of the aisle seemed a long way and looking at it today it was. A great way to end a very interesting day. Back to the hotel to watch a movie and rest!!!!!

Paris to London 8/10/09
We struggled again to get a taxi in Paris but eventually got to the station where we saw our first real gypsies that we had been warned about. We have not encountered any of the pickpockets, gypsies, bum pinchers that we were warned about before we left. As we went through checkin we first had to deal with the French border security and then within 20 steps we dealt with the English border security. First you say Merci then it is back to Thank You!!!! The train to London was very comfortable. It was like being on a plane except without the takeoff. The stewards came through with a drinks cart as we left and then lunch was served just like in a plane. The trip was very fast and before we knew it we were in England.
We arrived at London Pancras station and caught a taxi to our Novotel hotel and it was a very nice surprise as it is the type of hotel we are used to, very spacious with a restaurant and a bar and above all English speaking.. A pleasant and welcome change after 6 weeks of adapting to language differences especially after our experiences in Paris.
We spent the afternoon doing our usual walk around to orientate ourselves. We are close to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Southwark Bridge. As we walked we got some good photos of the Tower Bridge form the London Bridge which is a lot more modern than I thought. We walked along the Thames Path towards the Tower of London where we have a tour booked for Saturday. It was an easy walk so we will probably do that for our tour.
We walked back to our hotel as by this time it was about 5 o’clock, had a drink in the bar and got ready for dinner at the hotel restaurant. A nice meal which we both enjoyed.

Paris 6/10/09
We woke again to rain and gloomy weather today but managed to get to our tour on time despite not being able to book a taxi early in the morning. Apparently no taxis take bookings between 7am and 10am, and not being 100% sure of where the metro would let us out we had to flag one down by the side of the road. That done we boarded the bus to make our way to Monet’s Garden and Versailles.
Our guide was very good and she gave us some good information on Monet and his life. We arrived amid rain but this didn’t stop us enjoying the visit.
Monet spent the last years of his life in Giverny in a beautiful house surrounded by gardens. He paid to have the nearby river partly diverted to make his own water garden where he used the environment to paint his now famous water lily paintings. He was a wealthy man whose house was quite substantial with lovely big rooms, a large dining area and a kitchen which he had tiled in blue and white tiles which are still there today. The house was very interesting and well kept and from his bedroom he had the most wonderful view of his garden, which was based on a typical geometrically designed French garden with the colours laid out as if in a paint palette. Even though it is now autumn and it was raining it was still what I had hoped to see. The water lily garden was also a great opportunity to see where he got his inspiration for these paintings.

After our visit it was off to lunch at Fourges, “a charming restaurant in the heart of the impressionist landscape” (as displayed on an advertisement). The restaurant was situated in and 18th century watermill overlooking the river. It was very pretty and we again had some good company at lunch to have a chat to. After lunch it was a drive through the countryside to reach Versailles. We reached Versailles and were amazed at the opulence of the palace. Again there were beautiful frescos, paintings and rooms which were used for a variety of purposes. As we made our way through the hall of mirrors was an example of the excess of the times and we now understand why the people revolted against the royalty. While they were under pressure you had Kings decorating their palaces with gold and marble.
Our guide did a good job of explaining the many purposes of each room and it’s history.
After the guided tour we had free time to wander around the gardens. Well to do the gardens full justice would take more than 45 minutes. The gardens stretched over 100 hectares. They were considered the prototype of the French style garden because of their elegant style, full of artistic and scenic inventions. There are lakes, fountains, statues, flower beds and sculptured grass areas. It really is unbelievable in terms of the upkeep. One staory is that the Queen wanted to see a new garden one day so over 100 gardeners worked through the night so that when she opened the windows the next day she saw a whole new garden vista. The flowers were changed regularly back then but now are only changed twice a year.
A truly magnificent site.
We made our way back to Paris and had some dinner before making our way to see the Eiffel Tower at night. There were still a lot of people at the tower all trying to get that one fantastic shot. I made the best effort I could and can at least say I have seen it now. Another long day which I can tick off a couple of more things on the “bucket list”.

Paris 7/10/09
Today we woke to sunny skies and a relatively warm day for this time of year. But looking at some Parisians you would think it was a lot colder. We walked to the Metro at 8am in short sleeves and jeans, while they had boots, scarves, jumpers and coats buttoned up to their necks. It made me wonder what they wear when it is really cold!
We met our Louvre guide and walked the couple of hundred metres across to the Louvre. We made our way to the entrance and got our earpieces so that we would be able to hear the commentary from our guide. We started in the Italian and French painting section and saw the very famous Mona Lisa surrounded by a mass of people trying to take a photo of the painting which was surprisingly smaller than I thought. It still amazes me how many people want to have a photo taken with every painting, sculpture etc that they come across in these famous galleries. It makes it very hard for others to get near enough to have a look. This especially true of some nationalities.
We walked on as our guide explained about the masters we were seeing and the history of the artworks. We saw the highlights these being the paintings of the Mona Lisa, the Coronation of Napoleon the first, the Raft of Medusa, the Wedding at Cana and the sculptures of Venus de Milo, Victory of Samothrace and Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. We saw many others in our tour but these are the ones the guide specifically explained. By the end of the tour Peter and I found that all our travelling is starting to catch up with us and decided to call it a day even though it would have been easy to spend quite a lot more time there. We wandered again and found a nice quiet place for lunch, which in Paris is very rare as it seems to be bustling 24/7. Our time in Paris is almost at an end and we are spending the afternoon just relaxing as we are both tired and in need of some down time before we hit the road/train tracks for London tomorrow.