Singapore to Melbourne

Sunday, October 2

Our final travel day, and given our checkout time and flight departure time today was always going to be a quiet day! After checking out at midday, we sat around in the lobby for 2 hours reading and relaxing, before getting a cab to Changi Airport. The Malaysian Grand Prix was starting at 3 pm so we found a sports bar with it on, and sat and watched it while enjoying a beer. It was a great result too as Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo won the GP, so we were glad we were able to see it live.

Changi is a huge airport so there were lots of shops to look out and do some last minute shopping - we also clocked up a lot of steps walking around, while also keeping an eye out for somewhere to eat! We had a light meal then headed to our gate, ready for our departure at 9:15pm. Everything went well and we departed on time. Unfortunately our plane wasn't an A380, but a Boeing 777, and we found the seats quite a bit smaller than we enjoyed on the A380 in the upper deck.

The flight is normally 7 hours but we picked up some time and landed in Melbourne at 7am local time on Monday October 3, which was 4am Singapore time to our bodies - and we only got a couple of hours sleep on the plane! It was also freezing in Melbourne as it was going through a cold snap that was forecast to last until the middle of the week! Our amazing 16 week trip has come to an end, but we could have happily kept on travelling. However it's always good to get home, but I think it will take us a little while to settle in - especially while planning for next year's trip!

Singapore - Day 2

Saturday, October 1

As we've been to Singapore many times before we have taken the opportunity to have a breather after our long trip and just relax while we're here! Having said that there are always new shopping malls to check out, especially in the Marina Bay Area where we are staying this time! The other reasons for not getting out and walking around like we have done in Europe is that it's very humid here, and also the city is more spread out than the old towns in Europe.

Today was also the Grand Final match of the Aussie Rules season, and we were barracking for the underdogs who hadn't won the premiership flag for 62 years! So we watched the match on TV, and the  Bulldogs completed the fairytale and won, so we were happy for them (especially given neither of our two sides even got into the Grand Final)!

After the match we went for a walk, taking in the Singapore Flyer (the big wheel), the Esplanade Theatre on the Bay, and the Merlion which is the symbol of Singapore. We also checked out a couple of the nearby shopping complexes before having dinner. They love lighting up their buildings here and the view from our room at night is pretty stunning.

Singapore is a very modern city, and we like visiting here on our way home from Europe, but it doesn't have the charm of many of the European cities we have visited over the years or on this trip. You can really see the contrast between "old" Europe and modern Asia, and both have their pros and cons, but we prefer to soak up the ambience in Europe.

Paris to Singapore

Thursday, September 29

Taxi ride to Charles de Gaulle airport was slow due to peak hour traffic, but we arrived in plenty of time to get through check in, customs and then security. We were excited as our seats were in the upper deck of the A380, but unfortunately still in economy. The plane pushed back ready for an on time departure, but then we sat, and eventually had to be pushed back to the gate so the engineers could fix the problem. It didn't sound good to us - 2 of the engines wouldn't start, but it turned out to be the engines that ran the air system! We finally left about 90 minutes behind schedule.

Leaving at 1:30pm meant we would arrive about 2am, Paris time, but 8am Singapore time. As we were flying during our normal afternoon and evening we ate, read and watched movies instead of trying to get 4-6 hours sleep. We breezed through customs and got our bags straight away - we think most people on our flight were transferring onto other flights to Australia or other parts of Asia.

On arrival at our hotel we were blessed to have a room available, even though it was only 9am local time and check in wasn't officially until 3pm! We settled in, had showers and were in bed before 10am to get about 4 hours sleep before going out to explore the Marina Bay Sands area where the Pan Pacific is located. We didn't want to mess up getting a good nights sleep by sleeping longer, as much as we would have loved to!!

We walked to the nearby shopping complexes and had a light lunch, then walked some more to check out what the shops had to offer. Shopping here isn't cheap anymore, and all the major brands we've seen in most cities we visited are all here. The shopping complexes are all huge so you get plenty of exercise walking around them. A huge fountain at the Suntech shopping complex is called the Fountain of Wealth, but we weren't as adventuresome as the locals with our posing for the obligatory pictures! There was also plenty of the Formula 1 track still visible from where the Grand Prix was held only 2 weeks ago around the streets of Singapore.

After a light dinner we headed back to the hotel to get a full nights sleep so we are ready to explore more of Singapore tomorrow, with hopefully our bodies adjusted to the local time zone!

Paris - Day 3

Wednesday, September 28

Our last day in Europe on this holiday, as we fly out tomorrow for Singapore. It seems the time has flown, yet we've been away from home for over 15 weeks! We wanted to soak up the ambience of Paris so we set off walking, along some different roads and streets, and saw some sights we hadn't seen before (like Carreau de Temple, now an Arts complex and Cultural centre) and others we saw last time we were here, like Hotel de Ville.

Another new sight was Les Halles, which used to be where the market was, and the setting for the old Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine film Irma la Duce. Apparently the area had become really unsafe,  so it's been gentrified and turned into a new shopping complex. They are also building a huge garden area to honour Nelson Mandela, which will run between Les Halles, St. Eustache church and the Bourse de Commerce.

We returned to our hotel late afternoon to repack the suitcases in preparation for our flight, and hopefully get a good nights sleep! 

Paris - Day 2

Tuesday, September 27

At last we are in a room that's quiet at night - consequently we slept in, but we needed it after not sleeping all that well in Nantes! We decided to skip breakfast and have an early lunch before setting off on our walking tour of Paris, and ate at a nice restaurant near Place de la Republic.

It was a beautiful sunny day so we just strolled along, checking out the shops, buildings, people and monuments along the way. We were obviously in the theatre district as we passed a number of theatres along this street, as well as 2 old city gates. Noelle managed to get some retail therapy in, which is certainly one of the attractions of coming to Paris.

The area we were exploring was between Republic and Opera, and we detoured down to the Palais Royal area, which is a favourite of ours. We noticed a lot of the entrances to the Metro stops were very fancy, but this one was definitely over the top!

By this stage school was out, and it was good to see mums and dads taking their children to play in the parks rather than letting them sit at home on a computer or watching tv! We finally made it to the Opera House as the sun was highlighting the golden figures on the top - it was a spectacular sight, and it's a beautiful building.

After a coffee and pastry to re-energise us, we headed for home, taking a different route so as to take in more of the lovely old buildings and streets that make Paris so appealing to visit, no matter up many times you've been there. As we approached Place de la Republic again, there was a beautiful pink sky behind it as the sun was setting, so we have another sunny day coming up tomorrow.

Nantes to Paris

Monday, September 26

We checked out of our hotel and caught a cab to the Nantes train station, where our TGV high speed train left precisely on time at midday. We passed through some lovely French countryside, and then right on time at 2:25pm we arrived in Paris after a trip of nearly 400 kilometers. Another cab ride and we were at our hotel near Place de la Republic. After settling in we went for a walk to reacquaint ourselves with this area.

The Place de la Republic is large, and we walked around the perimeter checking out the shops and restaurants as we went. This time we noticed all the heavy concrete blocks around the statue in the middle of this Place, which definitely weren't there last time! A sign of the times.

We then continued along Blvd du Temple where our hotel is all the way to Place des Voges. This is our favourite square in Paris, and on a pleasant afternoon there were lots of people both in the park and walking around the colonnades that form the square. The buildings here are also fabulous and most of them are slightly different.

We reached Place de Bastille where the July Column is being renovated, and then headed back along our boulevard looking for somewhere to have dinner. We found a nice place near our hotel, and then returned home for an early night. Tomorrow there's lots of Paris to explore!

Nantes - Day 4

Sunday, September 25

Sunday is a very quiet day in France, with most shops and restaurants not open. As we left our hotel around 11am it seemed like we were the only people out and about, but as we walked a bit further there were more people around. There were a few local markets nearby so we checked them out before moving on to the main market in Nantes, which unusually is open 7 days a week! The weather forecast was for some rain early on but it was a beautiful morning and the market was packed.

We were "off the green line" in this part of town so we just strolled along the lovely streets and discovered things that weren't on the tourist map. One of them was a monument to the Resistance fighters of WW2, in a beautiful location on the Erdre River. This river used to flow into the Loire but the land was reclaimed as the river silted up and the growing city needed more space. From there we checked out the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), a lovely building from the 16-17th centuries. However we did see some examples of dodgy building practices in different parts of town!

We continued our walk both on and off the green line, and after lunch decided to follow the walk that highlighted Nantes' involvement in the slave trade. This began in the late 17th century when France was colonizing and trading with countries in Africa and the Caribbean, and in the 18th century Nantes was responsible for 42% of French trade expeditions involving the transport of slaves from Africa to the plantations in the Caribbean and Americas! The walk was very well marked and the posters at the various stops explained how the slave trade worked and the wealth impact it had on the traders in Nantes. The walk concluded at the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery, which was only inaugurated in 2012 - it was a very moving memorial and gave us lots of food for thought.

We returned to our hotel to prepare for tomorrow's trip into Paris, with only one more week of this amazing trip to go!

Nantes - Day 3

Saturday, September 24

Being a Saturday there are always markets on in every French town. We set off for the Nantes market and spent some time exploring the many aisles of clothes, shoes, nick backs, fruit, vegetables, meats and condiments - even some beds and sofas! There were a lot of people from northern African which added to the colour and culture of this market.

After lunch we headed for the Dukes of Brittany' Castle, which was originally built in the 15th century by the grandfather and then father of Queen Anne. There are a lot of monuments to her and we've followed her legacy around Nantes as we've walked around. The Castle is a really good one, and we walked all around the ramparts which gave us some great views over Nantes.

Nearby is the former LU Biscuit factory, which is now a cultural centre, with the highlight being one of the towers that is still standing. This tower was designed and decorated in the Belle Époque style. The building is situated on the banks of a canal so is also accessible by boat.

From here we continued on to the Botanical Gardens, and with it being such a warm Saturday afternoon there were lots of families enjoying the beautiful setting while having picnics and just relaxing in the autumn sunshine. The gardens were beautiful and laid out really well, and there were some very quirky sculptures! It also has some amazing trees in it from all over the world. One of them was a Wollemi Pine tree from Australia, which was only discovered there in 1997! There are fewer than 100 specimens in the wild, and this one was planted here in 2009 as part of the conservation plan for this species.

On our way back to our hotel we had to cut through a protest march (a French hobby)! Back in the old part of town where we are staying we also wandered through the Passage Pommeraye, a multi story covered shopping arcade which was built in the 19th century and contained some beautiful and unique shops. It reminded us of similar shopping arcades that we have in Melbourne and Sydney.

Another very enjoyable day in Nantes! 

Nantes - Day 2

Friday, September 23

We were up bright and early and set off on our continued walking tour of Nantes. This morning we crossed the Loire river which runs through Nantes and into the Atlantic Ocean. This made Nantes an important port from the 18th to 20th centuries when the shipyards were finally closed in 1987. The area where a lot of this shipping related industry took place is now being transformed into an innovation centre with old warehouses being converted to campuses, new energy efficient buildings are going up and it's also being used for expos, conferences and concerts.

The most amazing transformation is in the old shipyard which has become Machines de L'ile, an amazing space full of mechanical animals, birds and insects - a sort of Disney meets Steampunk place! The first creature they created about 8 years ago is a huge mechanical elephant, which takes people for a (slow) ride around the old shipyards. Given that Jules Verne was born here you can see where some of the inspiration and imagination comes from! There was also a Jules Verne inspired Carousel that was massive with all sorts of futuristic creatures that moved about as it went around.

From there we walked back to our hotel via the Nantes Notre Dame church, as we had a luncheon appointment at 1:30. This was at the famous La Cigale restaurant which is decorated in Belle Époque style from the late 1800s. The food was fabulous and it was a great experience to eat there.

After we had a rest to let our meal settle down we set off again to see some areas we hadn't explored before. This took us past another church and the castle (which we're going to do tomorrow) before reaching The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. Unfortunately this building was badly damaged during WW2 so a lot of it has been restored, but it was still very impressive.

We finished today's activities with drinks and nibbles before retiring for the night.

Nantes

Thursday,  September 22

We had to change rooms this morning so we got a later start than planned, and after some shopping and sightseeing we stopped for a light lunch. On the tourist map for Nantes there is a green line, which is also painted on the footpath so you can follow it around town. We set out to follow the line around the area where our hotel is, but as usual we got distracted!

The first distraction, and a good one it was, looked like an old church building but it turned out to be a wealthy businessman's home (Thomas Dobree) who followed in his fathers footsteps as a serious collector. The collection he inherited as well as built up in his lifetime was left to the state when he died, and his home became a museum to hold it all. In addition the State gave the museum many items from this area, and other friends and colleagues of Mr. Dobrees also donated items to the museum. It was a fascinating mix of items including Egyptian, books, manuscripts, signatures and letters, art works, numismatics, native items from all continents, military items and numerous other categories. These ranged from thousands of years BC up to the early 20th century, but the most incredible item was a gold heart, built to hold the heart of Queen Anne of Brittany from the 16th century. She was buried in Paris but wanted her heart to be buried in Nantes with her parents bodies, so this gold heart was built to fulfill her wish!

After this dose of culture we continued following the green line, which led us through a lovely park dedicated to General Cambronne. We continued on, enjoying the sights and sounds of a delightful Thursday afternoon. Our walk meandered around the little streets until we came to Saint Nicholas Bascilica, which again was badly damaged during WW2 but has since been restored. There is a lot more of the green line to follow so more discoveries will be made in the coming days!

Bordeaux to Nantes

Wednesday, September 21

Today we said goodbye to Bordeaux after a walk around a new part of town, followed by another delicious lunch. We got a taxi to the station and boarded the bus bound for Nantes, about 4 hours north of Bordeaux. The driver didn't speak English, but a young girl Miriam helped us by translating any announcements that were made. We had a brief stop in Niort but didn't venture far from the bus!

Our arrival in Nantes was delayed by an amazing traffic jam, which Miriam told us was due to a big soccer (football) match being played in town tonight. The bus stop was on the outskirts of town and quite a way from where we were booked to stay in the centre of town. There were no taxis around and with the traffic chaos we didn't like our chances of getting a cab, but Miriam rescued us. It turned out she was catching a nearby tram to close to where we were staying, so we tagged along with her on the tram. When we all got off the tram in town we hugged as we said "au revoir", and we managed to get a cab to take us the short distance to our hotel.

After settling in we went for a short walk around the nearby streets - we liked what we saw and are looking forward to exploring more of it over the next few days. The Place Royale looked great, and there was a sign showing what it looked like after WW2 - they have done a great job restoring it to how it was before the war! The Opera Graslin and Place Graslin also looked fabulous at night.

We finished the night with a drink and snack at a nearby pub, after an adventurous day of travel.