The End

Well thanks for reading the blog over the last 3 months and I am now back home. Photos from each day have been added to previous blogs for the entire trip, so feel free to have a look through them. I look forward to catching up with everyone at some point in the near future.

The End...

Day 74- Singapore- Melbourne

Day 74 After a restless and short sleep i am now at Changi Airport in Singapore waiting for my flight back to Melbourne. Less than 12 hours until i am back in the motherland where everything is how it should be. Its the little things that Australia offers that i miss such as the good ole chicken parma, roast lamb, jim beam, the spute and last but not least family and friends. Its been quite an adventure! 3 continents, 3 international festivals, 10 countries, 44 cities, 74 days and 47,000 kilometres and quite a few shocking airline food meals. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my trip along the way and almost home, its time to say Adios, Arrive Derci, Auf Wiedersehen, Seavas Pfiati, Maas Salaama, Av Revioir and goodbye.

Day 73- Singapore

Day 73- 27 October 2008

Today i spent a lovely morning sleeping and then i headed to Harbourfront to experience Tiger Live. An interactive display of Malays and Singapores favourite and first (and not sure only) beer. The tour was very informative and Tiger beer was a collaboration of a softdrink manufacturer and Heinekin. The tour even has a 4d show which you sit on a platform that rises, you wear 3d goggles and items from the screen pop out of you and you get hit with spray, wind and at the end beer bubbles from a massive bubble machine all while watching how tiger beer is made. You then get behind the bar and pull a beer which you are required to skull in front of the barman and other participants (the other 2 guys on the tour) and then you get back on the right side of the bar, relax while the barman pours one for you to enjoy on the barstools. Quite a nice experience !!

After enjoying the pleasure of a few cold ones i stumbled my way to Raffles Hotel to enjoy the famous Singapore Sling at the Long Room Bar. Well as expected, the bar is full of tourists and the drink of choice 99-1 is the Singapore Sling. It the sling was quite nice (although i dont think very alcohol). There was more sting from the wallet at the $26 price tag. At least you got free peanuts which you could through the shells on the floor. The bar is very magistic and from an erra gone by with its airconditioning as flans that rotate on the roof and its old style class. A memorable experience nonetheless.

As soon as i walked out of the bar, it started to rained very very very very heavily. So back to the hostel via taxi for me.

Day 72- Singapore

Day 72- 26 October 2008 Today i had a very long well deserved sleep in and began my day around 12pm. First Pearl and I went to Suntec city shopping centre and had lunch (ribs and chicken). Anyway, the food was really good which is the main thing. We then jumped on board the Singapore Duck !! The amfibious old vietnam war bus/boat for a tour around singapore city and a trip down the river. From there i perused Orchard Road (with its massive shopping centres) and then headed to check out Little India's shopping street which is quite long and jam packed given that it is Deepavaili which is Indian new year tomorrow and it is new years eve. The streets are decorated and light up at night. Tonight i had chillie crabs.. Yummy.

Day 71- Singapore

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Day 71- 25 October 2008 I arrived in Singapore around 9.30am today. I had to change my hotel as i got a call two days ago at 4am in the morning saying that my reservation was cancelled as the place had been acquired by the government and was being taken over this weekend). So now i am staying at G4 Station in Little India which seems nice (and just opened 1 month ago). I was picked up at 11.30 by John and Pearl (2 singaporeans who are friends with Ness' Auntie Ann) who took me out for a lovely lunch of peking duck (yum) and then on a nice tour of little china town (including the market, buddah temples and chinatown museum) and Little India (including a temple with a massive 15 metre tall buddah). From there i had an afternoon siesta and then went to a local place with them for chicken rice which was quiet tasty. We then headed to the Singapore Night Safari and after getting through the hoards of people that were there we went on the night safari tram tour which goes around very close to all the animals including hippos, giant ant eaters, lions, tigers, elephants, deer and lots more. It was a fantastic ride.

Day 70- London

Day 70- 24 October 2008 Today I woke up and headed for the airport and jumped on a plane to Singapore. Besides the plane having to sit on the tarmac for 40 minutes waiting for a spot to take off the flight was pretty good and on the new A380 (and even better i got emergency isle seating). Ah, so much leg room....

Day 69- Paris- Disneyland

Day 69- 23 October 2008 Today I checked out of Paris and headed by train to Disneyland Paris. Armed with my two park hopper pass allowing me to get into both disneyland and walt disney studios, i was ready for a day of adventure, fun and magic. What a day!! Some of the rides enjoyed were: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (which was like a mad mouse), Pirates of the Carribean (on a boat travelling around with pirates shooting each other), Phantom Manor (which was a haunted house and then a ghost car ride seeing spectors and ghols), Thunder Mesa Riverboat, Big Thunder Mountain (which was a great roller coaster ride both in the dark and outside), Disneyland Railroad, Peter Pans Flight, Dumbo the flying elephant (truly a great ride), the madhatters tea cups, its a small world, Buzz Light year laser blast,star tours, space mountain mission 2 (which was a crazy rollercoaster in the dark with lights and lasers and lots of loop de loops in the dark), Armageddon: Les Effects Speciaux (where you were in a set of armageddon and the roof and walls were coming in on you and flames just centremetres from your body, Studio Tram Tour (which was good with its massive flood and exploding fuel tanker (but not as good as the universal studios one), and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (which was a fantastic ride that takes u up to a very high level and plumits you up and down the elevator shaft and opens out at different levels showing you a great view of the parks). I also checked out the halloween parade and the disney once upon a dream parade which were quite large and very colourful. The whole park was halloweenified with pumpkins and people with pumpkin heads everywhere which was good. Overall, Disneyland does not disappoint. From the park i got on the TGV and headed back to London.

Day 68- Paris

Day 68- 22 October 2008

Today i was going to Monet's gardens but due to overcast weather and tiredness i decided to take a more relaxed day.

Off by train i headed for Cimetiere De Pere Lachaise. This cemetary is the final resting place of many famous people and a few of the sites visited were the graves of Chopin, Pissaro, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. It was quite an interesting walk around the cemetary and Oscar Wildes monumental gravesite had many womens lipstick kisses on it.

From there i boarded the metro and headed for the Petit and Grande Palaces which are impressive buildings now used as galleries. I checked out the permanent exhibition in the Petit Gallery which houses various forms of art.

From there i enjoyed a nice pastry on the canal.

Day 67- Paris- Champagne

Day 67- 21 October 2008

Today was my day trip to Champagne. The morning started off very early at 6am and after a few hours of driving we reached the champagne house of GH Mumm. A short video about the vineyards and then we were off 14 metres underground to visit the GH Mumm cellars which are tunnels dug into the chalk ground under the streets of Reims which run for many many kilometres. There were bottles stacked every where, so much champagne at different stages of the process. Bottles are stored for 3 years for a normal brut, 4 to 14 years for a vintage and there are some bottles from the original productions in the 1900's. At the end of the tour it was time for a tasting of their Brut GH Mumm flagship champagne. Well, all i can say is that its no spumante or tropicana!!

From there we headed to Rheims cathedral which is gothic and has some very impressive stained glass windows (like every other church in paris).

Then it was time for a spot of lunch of baguettes and then we went to Epernay about 50 minutes ago and were at Moet & Chandon. We went for a cellar tour of a small part of the 14 years and got to learn about how champagne is made. At the end of the tour it was time for a tasting of their Moet & Chandon Imperial Brut flagship champagne.

Moet is also the home of Dom Perignon who is supposedly the founder of champagne.

After tasting some of the best sparkling wine that the champagne region has on offer, it is no suprise why they keep their name "champagne" so tightly held. Its probable that my now developed palate will be unable to cope with the australian and other miscelaneous inferior sparkling wines again...

Saluat !!

After my return to Paris, i went on the search for the two pyramids which are opposing each other that feature in the Da Vince code movie which are near the Louvre and for which i was unable to find the other day during my visit to the louvre. Thankfully after much detective work i found them.

Day 66- Paris

Day 66- 20 October 2008 Today i headed for Opera Garnier which is a magnificent building with some very nice statutes around it. Unfortunately the auditorium which aparently is magnifcent was closed today so i could not check out its splender. Also all the tickets for the operas this week are booked out too. From there i went to Hotel Invalides by the metro (which when i took a connecting train i had to walk underground for about 15 minutes to get to the platform which is probably the same distance if i had of walked above ground to my actual destination !!). The Hotel Invalides now houses the Saint Louis Des Invalides Cathedral which has flags from enemies of france that were caputred, a museum of arms and armour, and things from the two world wars and the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Eglise du Dome. The museums are quite interesting and have a lot of videos and information in both french and english. Napoleons Tomb is very large and within it it he now lies within 5 coffins made of tin, mahogany, lead, lead again and ebony with a moumental sarcophagus made from red quartzite on a green granite base. From here i went to Eglise St Sulpice which features in the Da Vince code, and alas, another movie moment which bears untruth in the real world. There is a gold line for the meridian in the church which goes to an oblisque, but no gold discs on the ground and no chapel at the end of the line. Although what was cool, that at midday (original Paris time) the light shines through one part of the glass in the stained glass at the other end of the church and shines on the ground in three light circles and passes the meridian line. I was fortunate to see this (and there is a photo attached). I then got a train to Montmatre and then a very short funicular ride to the top of paris on which sits the Sacre Couer. A very large white church which is visible from many places around Paris. At one end of the church in a massive dome there is a fantastic gold leaf painting of a scene with Jesus which is very impressive. From there i walked up the 300 steps to the top of the dome for spectacular views of montmatre and paris. My entrance ticket was suppose to get me into the crypt also, but alas, when you got to the door it said the crypt was closed (well after paying for the ticket), another paris scam this time perpetrated by the church. I then enjoyed a nice baguette and sat on the steps of the Sacre Couer over looking paris listening to some good music from buskers and enjoying the sun.