Monday, 15 May 2006

Well, that's it. We are home at last having arrived here after several decent flights. As we said, the flight from London to Singapore was good and we got some sleep. The night in the Transit Hotel in Singapore gave us a chance to get a bit of rest before coming on to Sydney where we spent another night.

From Sydney to Hobart was smooth and seemed like no time at all. Despite our oft-vowed position not to buy any duty free we did pick up a couple of bottles in Sydney. Got to tell you this, though. Remember how our bags were picked up by someone in Sydney? Well that must have made me extra cautious and believe it or not as we waited for our bags in Hobart I spotted one of them being walked out by someone. A quick dash across the road and I caught her so we didn't have a repeat of the wait at Sydney. We are going to have to put something on or cases which make them more unique so they don't get picked up by others when we travel. It wasn't too bad in Sydney and Hobart, but imagine if it had been at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris!

Home and we were immediately back into the swing of things. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, sorted the mail, did the laundry and had a meal out. The next day Virginia was back at work and I had a luncheon meeting. It's amazing how quickly it all falls away. Here we are only five days back and it almost seems as if we were never away.

On Wednesday, Virginia was saying "never again..." and had decided that she was not going to subject herself to another overseas trip. By Thursday morning she had the travel books out and was busy planning our trip for 2007.

And that's it. We are home, it was a wonderful trip, we are organising the photographs and planning for next year. Until then, when we will have a new blog, we hope you have enjoyed this and we send our love to you all.

Bruce and Virginia

Tuesday, 9 May (I think)

Got into Singapore and went straight to bed. The changes in time and the long sleep on the plane coming out made for a restless night. We are now in the Qantas lounge waiting for the call for our flight from Sydney. Home tomorrow night!

Well here we are in Sydney - or at least at the airport where we are waiting for Virginia's bag which was picked up by someone else with a very similar bag. We debated keeping their bag, but decided that if we did all it would probably contain would be a months supply of dirty knickers.

So, here we wait until they return from wherever they are. Fortunately the baggage service here was very efficient and rang them on both of their mobiles, finally getting someone in Gosford. We hope the bags will be sorted out within the hour!

The bags were sorted out, we went to our hotel and crashed!

Monday, 8 May 2006

Somewhere over India. We really seem to have lucked up on our flights coming back. We are currently on the plane between London and Singapore and the plane is almost empty. As soon as we reached altitude, Virginia and I each grabbed a four seat section and settled in. After dinner, which was surprisingly good for airplane food, we went to sleep and slept for five or six hours. Virginia spoke to the crew and they told her that this particular flight is fairly new and rarely crowded. Sadly, by next year, we feel sure it will either be cancelled or be much more crowded.

While we are not sure, the staff in London told us that the flight from Singapore to Sydney is not crowded either!

We currently have about three hours and three-quarters before we arrive in Singapore where we will be staying in the Transit Hotel overnight. For those of you unfamiliar with the Transit Hotel, it is one of the great travel ideas. We have about a fourteen hour delay before continuing on to Sydney, so, instead of clearing customs and finding a hotel in the city with all the difficulties that entails or, alternatively, sitting around the airport, we never actually "land" in Singapore. We remain in transit and our bags (except for what we are carrying) go on to Sydney while we check into a hotel in this "no-man's-land". Singapore has had the good sense to provide these hotels in the transit area. Because people are not usually there for long, the hotel rents rooms in six hour blocks which can be extended by one hour blocks. We will have two blocks of six hours, but were we to need it for only nine hours, we could have one block of six hours plus three blacks of one hour each. Cost is about the same as a hotel anywhere these days--about one hundred Singapore dollars per six hour block.

Sunday, 7 May 2006

Saturday--Oh what a rush and bother getting ready to leave and then getting to the train station. Because we were worried about getting transport (which turned out to be totally unfounded) we arrived at Gare du Nord at least two hour before the train left. Breakfast of croissants in one of the bistros at the station took an hour and then we went to the "official" waiting area and read.

The trip was fast (with speeds of up to 300 kph) and smooth. If you are planning a trip to Paris we heartily recommend travelling via Eurostar which takes you from central London to central Paris in just over two hours and a half. We are told that if you book well in advance, via the internet, you can get significant savings. We travel second class which is fine. It doesn't offer the champagne breakfast, but bring your own baguette and a drink and save lots of money. The seats are roomy and frankly we can't imagine why anyone would want to spend the extra amount (although there is a special "seniors" rate in first class). Also, if you are planning the trip, try to get the direct, non-stop, trains. Not a lot of difference, but they avoid the stopping, starting, people getting on and off and luggage banging you get on the milk run (which, in fact, only takes about half-an-hour longer).

We were fortunate in that the rain held off. Thunderstorms were predicted in both Paris and London yesterday, but the weather stayed reasonable until about 2.30 (at least in London) by which time we were safely ensconced in our hotel.

Sunday--Today we are catching up on our laundry (ah the excitement, the joy of travel) and getting psychologically prepared for the long flight to Singapore. This afternoon we will probably go to Harrods just to see how "the other half" shops. Bruce loves the food hall and it is almost impossible to drag him away. He seems to always have his camera at the ready and seems hell-bent on building the world's largest photo collection of Harrod's foodstuffs even though he has it all in a cookbook at home that Virginia bought him some years ago.

As we are staying just around the corner from Paddington station, I have included above a picture of that station's most famous mascot; Paddington Bear!

A strange coincidence this morning. We always say that when we are away from Australia, we never hear anything about it on the news and certainly never about Tasmania. But the headlines around the world (BBC, CNN, etc) are all about the two miners trapped in the Beaconsfield gold mine and the rescue attempts. In London it even got higher coverage than the potential fall of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the shooting down of a British helicopter in Iraq with 4 deaths and the resulting problems in Basra.

Friday, 5 May 2006

Our last day in Paris. A housekeeping day, cleaning the flat, doing laundry, changing bed linen. We did treat ourselves to a nice lunch at Chez Ginette on Rue Caulincourt. This is a wonderful street, just around the corner from us in Rue Cyrano de Bergerac. It is definitely not a tourist area but services the many hundreds of apartments nearby. It is more of a boulevard than a street; wide and tree-lined. Lots of patisseries, charcuteries, boucheries, alimentation generale and best of all, chocolatieries! There is also a primary school where, today, we noticed on the outside wall they proudly displayed their class photographs. Go half-way around the world and some things never change.

An interesting note about primary schools here is that they are very private and you cannot see into them behind the high walls. Very security conscious. Also we find it interesting that primary school children attend school on Monday and Tuesday, sometimes Wednesday morning sometimes not at all, Thursday and Friday and Saturday morning. So the week is split into two parts. This seems educationally sound, however, the days are very long with the children not leaving school until early evening although we understand they have a long mid-day break.
Still gorgeous weather although thunderstorms are predicted tonight and tomorrow. Isn't that just our luck - leaving here in the midst of a downpour and trying to find a taxi?

Qantas would not, on our frequent flyer points, route us direct to and from Paris (there aint no such thing as a free flight) so we have an overnight stopover in London, then on to Singapore, Sydney (overnight) and Hobart.

Thursday, 4 April 2006

Warm weather continues which is good because we are gradually discarding our winter clothes so as to make travelling easier. Since tomorrow will probably be spent packing, cleaning and organising for our return we took a last wander through Montmartre. Virginia picked up a free magazine called "Where" at a local hotel and it had a very good walking tour of Montmartre in it. While we didn't want to do the whole walk, we picked out some things we had not seen before. And, by the way, a useful thing to do when you are travelling independently is to go into any of the large chain hotels (which usually host tour groups) and pick up all of the free literature usually available in multiple languages.

On this walk we wandered down the little Rue St-Rustique which with no sidewalks or shops is very picturesqe and usually empty of tourists. At the end of the street is the restaurant La Bonne Franquette which used to be Aux Billiards in Bois and has been there for more than 150 years. It was the meeting place of Pissarro, Degas, Sisley, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Monet and Zola (not that we are into name-dropping). We returned to that unusual sculpture of a man walking through a wall having discovered that it is of the "Passe-Muraille", the hero of Marcel Ayme's 1943 story about a man who could walk through walls. We then wandered down to look at the old windmills. The former Moulin Radet is now a very posh restaurant called Le Moulin de la Galette; but the real Moulin de la Galette (made famous by Renoir's "Bal du Moulin de la Galette) is a bit further down the street and now on private property.

We then walked back down to Rue Caulaincourt and on home. After lunch we mooched around doing odds and sods before going out for a glass of wine sitting outside at a local "bistro" watching the world go by (Tres Parisien).

Now Virginia wishes to comment on the new season's fashions. Polka dots of every size and every colour are the in thing as are tiered skirts of every length in Spanish style. Shoes are flat, "little girlish" ballet style with T-bars. No high heels in sight except for those who will always do their own thing. For Princess Mary of Denmark watchers, according to advertisements for various magazines here, at the time of her second wedding anniversary, she has a new secret!

Wednesday, 3 May 2006

Warmer weather has set in - up to the mid-twenties and very pleasant although we don't really want it any hotter. After the morning shopping and chores we had lunch at home and then Virginia went on a trip to Fountainbleu and Barbizon and Bruce went to the Petit Palais.

Although impressed with Fountainbleu itself, Virgina was more taken with the delightful village of Barbizon which was home to many of the pre-impressionist painters. Robert Louis Stevenson also lived there for a while. On the edge of the forest of Fountainbleu it is a lovely village and she picked up the real estate guide for the locality. AU$1,000,000 will just about get you into the downmarket area of Barbizon. Oh well, it looks like we will continue to rent in Montmartre when we come to Paris.

The Petit Palais was a real surprise. First, Bruce arrived on the day when it was free although he had been practicing his "fractured French" to ask if they had a seniors' price. It really is the museum and gallery of the city of Paris with some wonderful realistic paintings and sculpture as well as a nice collection of Monets and Pissaros. The building itself is beautiful and airy and real joy in which to wander around.

On a completely different topic, we've been wondering about the number of dogs in Paris. Why do so many people, particularly living in apartments, have dogs? If anyone knows, please tell us.

Tuesday, 2 May 2006

We would advise anybody wishing to tour a major cemetery - anywhere in the world - to first call at the cemetery office and get a plan of who lies where. It is surprising how modest and how difficult to find some of the well-known tombs are. There are no signs which say, "this way to ... " and in a large cemetery like Pere Lachaise you can spend a lot of time wondering just where the hell you are. If you enjoy just wandering, that's great, but if you are looking for particular sites, then get a map.

One of the things that most surprised us at Pere Lachaise was the number of monuments to those who died in the Nazi concentration camps. Beautiful and moving monuments located where they couldn't possibly be missed. They seemed in most cases to refer to a particular death camp whether Auschwitz or Treblinka or one of the others.

Having mastered the Metro on past trips, this years challenge was the buses. There is an excellent system and we find we can often get where we want above ground. This has the advantage of taking us through areas we might not otherwise get to see and the disadvantage of being somewhat slower than the metro. Still, it is an interesting and different experience. Today, for example, we took the 60 to Pere Lachaise and went through much of the north-eastern area of Paris. The districts ranged from nice bourgeois settlements to some slums that would make most people blanch. Our local contacts tell us that there are particular areas that definitely are no-go! We went through these on the bus and could see why you would not want to get off.

Manners on the bus are amazingly good. There are signs reminding people they need to offer seats to the elderly, mothers with children and people with a disability. This seems to be heeded in a very good natured way. People are helpful and courteous in the main. More so, we think, than on the metro. There are so many different types of tickets and passes, that the bus drivers seem to pay no attention at all to whether or not you have paid or are entitled to a free ride. However, one runs the risk of coming across an inspector at some point and there is a fine for riding without a legitimate ticket.

Monday, 1 May 2006

The first of May in France is a very big day, no matter where you might be. It's not the first time we have been here on this occassion and we were aware that tempers can get frayed and emotions run hot so, in view of recent troubles we steered clear of what we thought might be trouble spots. It did remind us, however, of last year when we were on a tour bus with mostly Americans going into the town of Limoges. Americans have great difficulty with the European Left and particularly its relationship with Russia or the old Soviet Union. We remembered the comments and cries of horror when our American travellers saw that the marchers in that lovely town were carrying banners with the hammer and sickle insignia. "My God, they're Communists," we heard one of the Americans commenting.

It is a tradition on May Day when visiting family and friends to take a small bunch of Lily of the Valley (Les Mugets). At our local station a small bunch was available for one Euro (medium bunch for two Euros). Toward the centre of the city the prices for the same bunches had doubled and trebled. Selling the flowers seemed to be something that everybody and his brother was doing. Lots of children were selling home-grown bouquets trying to make a bit of pocket money.

Another cold and windy day and because it was May Day most things were shut. We made a short day of it when it started to rain.

Sunday, 30 April 2006

Today was a day of total and abject failure. If anything could be stuffed up, we did it. It started with our shopping this morning. We thought that the "supermarket," Monoprix, would be open. It wasn't! Admittedly the street was full of life with the local market in full swing, but unfortunately that didn't do us much good. OK, so we couldn't get what we wanted, but we knew that we could go to the nearby greengrocer and get a cucumber for tonights salad. Wrong again. Lovely place, lovely man who runs it, but no Concombre!

Well, there is always sightseeing. And if there is one thing Paris is great for, it is that. Well, most of the time. Just as we began our walk along the Canal St. Martin, down came the rain. It could have been worse, however, since our impression of the area we had selected to do our walk in was not too good. A bit seedy; a but rough. We staggered back between raindrops to the Metro and headed for Place Clichy.

By the time we got there, the rain was in full flow. We sheltered in a hotel for more than two hours before it let up enough for us to walk home. When we finally got back to the flat we rewarded ourselves with hot tea and potato crisps. Ah the life of Parisian luxury!

Saturday, 29 April 2006

On this trip we have tried to become increasingly aware of the "road less travelled;" at least the one less travelled by tourists. We spend quite a bit of time walking in the very beautiful, leafy, elegant suburbs of Paris. Today it was a walk in Auteuil; a real bastion of bourgeoise life. It is a mixture of old village on the one hand and some of the most interesting and modern buildings we have seen. It is in the westernmost part of the city, across the river from the Eiffel Tower and right behind the massive Maison de Radio-France which was built in 1963 to house French radio and television.

Bruce, as another American living abroad found the house in which John Adams and John Quincy Adams had lived interesting, commenting that even in those days Presidents did quite well for themselves! What impressed us most, however, was watching the Saturday morning life of people shopping for the long weekend in the local open-air market (around a beautiful Wallace drinking fountain), walking their dogs and promenading with their children. All very bourgeoise. All very white. In fact, we say only two non-whites and they were obviously very haute Couture!

Lots of buildings to admire since it is an area in which there are a number of Hector Guimard Art Nouveau houses with wonderful elegant cast-iron balconies. The Mallet Stevens' houses were disappointing having had an additional three stories stuck on to them in the 1960s. On the other hand, the Auteuil has Le Corbusier's Villa Roche and Valla Jeanneret which are now part of the Corbusier Foundation and are quite magnificent. Built of reinforced concrete in the 1920s, their geometric forms are still a pleasure to the eye and their lack of ornamentation contributes to a sense of pleasure in their architecture.

Friday, 28 April 2006

A day of window-shopping. We took a long walk along La Rue du Faubourg St Honore, admiring the clothes, jewelery, shoes and other finery. Bruce found a lovely suit for only 1500 euros which is about 3000 Australian dollars, but the find of the day was at Ralph Polo Lauren where Virginia found a very stylish denim jacket. It was a patchwork design made from scraps of a variety of different fabrics and it was only 5,500 euros. Virginia thought she might get two with all the matching accessories like a tent to sleep in because we would have had to mortgage the house.

We then walked up the Rue de Rivoli and around the Place de La Madelaine where, those of you who know this city, will remember there is where you find the grocery shops to die for (but not to shop in) and the flower stalls on the street.

In the afternoon we went up to the arty-farty-touristy section of Montmartre which is still very interesting and has some lovely side streets which are not as touristy as La Butte. We got there on the Montmartrebus which is a neat little electric job which zips up and down and around La Butte and Sacre Coeur. It departs from the Mairie du 18eme and ends up in Pigalle before starting its return journey.

As far as economy goes, they can't be beaten. The little electric cars that people use here and recharge in parking stations are good value in terms of travel. Also, because of the high price of petrol, there are little two-seater smart cars which get 100 km per litre of petrol. Great for parking, but not something you would want for a run from say Adelaide to Melbourne.
The Mairie or town hall is a very useful place in each arondissment. It is the local centre of government and a source of much information. We have picked up guides to the district and information about adult education courses run in the various districts.

We have one more week left here and are planning the essential sights. This may be more easily said than done because after some seriously nice weather we are expecting cold and wet days. Our French is not yet up to going to the Cinema but maybe by next year!

Thursday, 27 April 2006

At the request of Rachel we made a special trip today to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse to take a picture of the tomb of John Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Although quite a large cemetery, it is, in fact, the smallest of the Paris graveyards. Nonetheless, we managed to get lost.

I wanted to see the tomb of Alfred Dreyfus, but after an hour or more of searching we decided he was as much a nonentity in death as he had been in life. We had better luck with Sartre and de Beauvoir who are entombed within 10 metres of the entrance to the cemetery and are obviously visited frequently by bored looking school groups.

This cemetery was planned by Napoleon outside the city walls to replace the numerous congested small cemeteries within the old city. French cemeteries are beautifully maintained; lovely places for a picnic and better toilets than you find in the downtown shopping areas. We strolled around with our luncheon baguettes admiring the many interesting and outstanding tombstones. One of the most fascinating is that of Charles Pigeon depicting the French industrialist and inventor in bed with his wife! Oh yes, they are both fully clothed (see picture).

Not far from the cemetery is the Tour Montparnasse, Europe's second-tallest tower. Paris's tallest office tower it somehow does not seem out of place like the area around La Defense. We went to the top in elevators that claim to climb to the 56th floor in 38 seconds. Bruce, always the stickler, timed it and found that it took more than a minute up and down. There was no sense of movement and the viewing room is quite good with, of course, spectacular views over Paris. We really weren't sure that it would be that exciting and Bruce had commented that he thought we would probably be dissapointed - we weren't. Heclimbed the last three flights of stairs to the outdoor viewing platform on the 59th level. It was cold and windy and oddly the view was less satisfying than that from three stories below.

And now a lyrical ode on "les pommes de terre," or the potato. In Tasmania we are blessed with a range of potatoes that are not available on the mainland. However, the range does not include Jersey Royals. Now Virginia and her Pommy friends at the WEA have been waxing lyrical about these for as long as I can remember. We have managed to get them when we have been in England about this time of year and regretfully I have to say they come up to the standard at which Virginia has always described them. This trip to Paris we seem to have hit the jackpot. For the very short season (about a month) that the potatoes are available it has been cheap dining since Virginia is happy with a kilo of these every few days. Having dispelled the myth of the wonderful Cox's Orange Pippin apple and the superb Plaice, both of which turned out not to live up to either of our expectations, it was a delight to find that we got it right with the humble spud.

Wednesday, 26 April 2006

Something quite different today. Bruce decided to do a "Jean Valjean" and went to the sewerage museum. Now we realise that this opens the door for all kind of rude remarks and smart comments, but the reality is that it was quite fascinating; possibly the most interesting museum Bruce had been to. Interestingly, the description of the underground routes in Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" are very accurate since Hugo was a friend of one of the important sewage engineers. Nowadays, of course, it is all high tech, but some of the technology is truly fascinating. So, the next time you need your drains cleaned ...

Virginia, of course, has been coming to France for far more years than I have; her home town of Bristol is twinned to Bordeaux. So all through her childhood and school years she went backward and forward to Bordeaux via Paris and lots of other places. Therefore, when we come now, she likes to go to areas she has never been to before. Today she "sussed out" an up-and-coming area near the Place d'Italie which she says rivals Montmartre and costs seem to be about half what they are in our suburb.

Just one other thing we need to say and that's about supermarket shopping. Very much the same as everywhere else in the world until you get to the checkout. Now here patience is truly a virtue. The lines are long and it is not as if they don't have enough checkouts open, it's because of a whole different style of paying. In Australia (and we'd love to hear from people elsewhere) either the checkout person or the customer starts packing the goods as they are scanned through. Then, when the items have been added up, they are paid for. Here, on the other hand, there is a slight difference which holds everyone up. Each customer seems to carefully watch as the items are scanned. Customers seem to be far more careful in their scrutiny of every detail and will often query elements of the bill while it is being processed. When everything has been scanned to the customer's satisfaction, the customer packs the groceries and when the packing is complete, then, and only then, does payment take place. It is further slowed down by the need to ask for bags if you didn't bring your own containers.
There is also strict electronic security at each checkout and alarms go off if you try to get anything out without paying. Frankly, we both prefer shopping at the little locals and fruit and veg shops where we have come to know the people running them. And as for bread, it is much nicer from your neighbourhood boulangerie.

Tuesday, 25 April 2006

There is a reasonably new Metro line in Paris; Number 14, which runs from San Lazare to Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand. This is a high speed line with quite some distances between stops and it doesn't have a driver! Virginia sat at the very front of the train for all but one station of its length today which, she said, probably did nothing good for her blood pressure. Those who are brave enough can sit right up front and "be the driver" through all the bends and oncoming trains of the Metro world. Today that was Virginia.

She took the train going out to Bercy Village. The former wine storehouses of Paris have been transformed into a village square; the main pedestrian street is lined with botiques, gardening shops and cafes. The buildings are interesting, the shops are boring; all cafes have translations of menus into English with "enjoy your meals..." etc. Apparently Paris is beginning to expand into this eastern area.

Bruce, on the other hand, drove no trains but climbed a bit like the well-known Hunchback, to the top of Notre Dame. The view was sensational but the climb was pretty exhausting. It wouldn't have been so bad except the last part had people going up and down on one of those narrow medieval staircases. Ah well, at least one gets to be quite close to the people going in the opposite direction. Still, it was worth it. Not only the view, but all of the gargoyles are near at hand.

After the climb I went to a museum which had coins and medals from the earliest days of France. One that was particularly interesting was a commemorative medal honouring Benjamin Franklin which was minted in 1789.

Later in the afternoon the two of us went for a stroll near the Montmartre Cemetery, did some shopping and came home. Another interesting day.

Monday, 24 April 2006

Another day of museums and galleries; well, two anyway. Bruce went to the Museum of the Middle Ages, a gallery with a beautiful collection including the very lovely "Lady and the Unicorn" series of carpets. And from there to the Pantheon which is so vast that it almost hides the fact that so many of the French greats are entombed there. Not much to tell besides that. We did our shopping late in the afternoon and that about summarises the day.

Sunday, 23 April 2006

Paris is a city for walking. The central part, with all of the wonderful sights is easy to walk around, but if you confine yourself to it, you miss many of the interesting streets and parks that are to be found all over this magical city. Today we took the Metro to Parc Monceau, an exquisite late-18th century part of the smart Second Empire district full of opulent mansions in which the truly wealthy live.

We are not sure if the French are really fitness fanatics, but if the number of joggers in the parks is any indication, they are! There must be particular paths they follow because in Parc Monceau, they all seemed to be going in one direction down certain paths - well almost all; out of the hundreds we saw, we only had one running in the opposite direction. Either a true individualist or a very confused runner.

Parisians are heavy smokers. It doesn't matter where you go or what you are doing, smoke is bound to abound. It is particularly annoying when you are sitting down to a meal whether in a bistro or a restaurant and all around you people are lighting up. Still, I guess it goes with the territory and one has to grin and bear it. I do wonder about comparative statistics on the amount of smoking and the levels of lung cancer.

We were also curious as to whether or not there was some sort of programme where the eyes of children are checked when they start school. There seem to be more youngsters in glasses here than in Australia, the UK or the USA. If such checks do exist, it seems like a very good idea.
After a few days of gloriously mild weather with the trees in bloom and the flowers looking lovely, we have just had a thunderstorm with a rather substantial drop in temperature.

Saturday, 22 April 2006

Warm weather seems to have arrived and it is in the mid-twenties. Very pleasant indeed, although we will be quite happy if it doesn't get any warmer. We are short of "summer" clothes but can just manage "spring."

Today we took the advice of one of our guidebooks and did a walking tour around the Ile St-Louis. It is obviously what must be one of the "desirable addresses" in Paris if not the world. This, according to our guidebook, has been the case since the seventeenth century. One would have to say it is a "stable" neighbourhood! All the buildings are works of art and the views up and down the river are sensational taking in, as they do, the dome of the Pantheon, the back of Nortre Dame and glorious views of the Seine. Prices, we feel sure, come accordingly.

We walked from the Ile St-Louis to Les Halles, which Bruce had not seen and while we did not go into the shops, we enjoyed the park before getting a bus back to our neighbourhood. Our neighbourhood is one in which many young families starting out live. There are lots of babies and wonderful baby shops with all sorts of gorgeous clothes, prams and toys. However there are no back yards here since people live in seven, eight and nine story apartments often in only 40-50 square metres.

It is now 7.30 pm and the children are out playing in the side streets with their scooters and their bikes. There are also many parks but in the usual French style, very little, if any, grass. Still, they are often a pleasant respite from the hustle and bustle of the streets and afford playground and gym equipment for youngsters.

Friday, 21 April 2006

An area that neither Virginia nor I had visited is La Defense. Just on the western outskirts of Paris this is a skyscraper business city and the largest new office development in Europe. The main attraction is La Grande Arche, an enormous hollow cube large enough to contain Notre Dame. We are told that it has superb views over the city of Paris but we found the whole area uninteresting compared with the rest of Paris. Bruce thought it was a bit like the biblical story of the tower of Babel. It was too big and almost seemed to have been designed for no other purpose than to be bigger than anything else. It was with a sense of relief that we returned to the older part of the city.

In complete contrast, we walked down one side of Rue Montaigne and back up the other. Now this is serious shopping country. Among the shops found on this stretch are Prada, Georgio Armani, Harry Winston, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Nina Ricci, Chanel, Bulgari, Escada and Gucci; and that is only a small part of the list. This is "beautiful people" land! Here a starter before your lunch can easily set you back $50 or $60 dollars. While many of these shops can be found in other parts of the city, this is where the real money shoppers come. Rue Montaigne is a quiet, tree-lined street and most of the fashion houses have commissionaires and the street is lined with only the very best chauffer driven cars.

We have seen the future and it is Toyota! Oh, what a feeling! The Toyota showroom on the Champs d'Elysees has several prototypes of what you may be driving in two or three years in Europe (read ten or twelve for Australia). The one that appealed most to us looked like a big armchair on wheels. It is an electric powered single person vehicle. Very sleek, very neat. See the photo! By the way, if you think fuel is dear where you are, try Europe. It is at least double what we pay in Australia and this is why cars will get smaller and smaller and operate on alternative fuel systems. It is also why in Paris at least, there is an excellent public transport system. We have been using buses and rarely wait more than five minutes and despite what you may have heard taxis are not expensive and have special lanes which speed up their service.

20 April 2006

For some reason, in a city which has so much, internet cafes in the area in which we are staying are few and far between. So please accept my apologies for updating this several days at a time. I mention this because after fronting up nice and early to the nearest internet cafe it was closed! So, instead of getting all of my stuff off I went gallerying again.

Back to the Louvre to spend a bit of time looking at the remains of the Palace of Darius I. Just from the remnants, it must have been incredible. The artifacts are huge and the remains of the friezes are stunningly beautiful.

From the Louvre I wandered over toward Notre Dame, stopping at the Conciergerie. Here, during the revolution, over 4,000 were housed. Among them was Marie Antoinette who went from here to her execution. In an ironic twist, Robspierre spent his last nights here as well. In the building is a magnificent Gothic hall where the guards of the royal household lived. Although renovated in the nineteenth century it still retains many of its earlier features.

Frome the Conciergerie I walked over to Notre Dame where I decided against climbing to the towers since there was a long line. I'll probably come back and do that in a couple of weeks. Instead I wandered through the church and then went to the Crypte Archeologique where the remains of the site before the present church are visible. Some of the remains are 2,000 years old.

Happy Birthday Millie

Wednesday, 19 April 2006

Happy Birthday Milly. Ten years since Grandma stopped smoking. Congratulations to both of you.

We went our separate ways again today. The reason is that Bruce wants to go to Museums and Art Galleries and Ginnie doesn't. Anyway, we went into the centre of the city together on the bus. Much more interesting than the Metro although definitely slower. The bus takes you through interesting neighbourhoods and down streets you would swear are to narrow for a bicycle--not to mention a bus. Generally the buses that run through the city are smaller than the ones we are used to in Australia but then the streets here are so much narrower.

Bruce went to the Louvre today. If you haven't been there you really cannot conceive of the size of the place. It is divided into three sections, each of which would by any standard be a respectable major art gallery in its own right. Naturally Bruce went to all of the classics; Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, etc.

Later he went back to the Musee d'Orsay to take in a few rooms he had missed yesterday and then came home utterly galleried out. The patient will recover and be back at the galleries tomorrow. Unfortunately, when you buy a three day pass, it has to be used on consecutive days.

Virginia revisited Les Halles (which used to be the country's biggest markets until the 1970s - similar to Covent Garden). She commented that they have changed somewhat and I reminded her that since her last visit in approximately 1956, so have we. She remembers eating onion soup with cheese (which she didn't like). Today she found a huge park at ground level with beautifully manicured gardens and wonderful playgrounds for children including a massive carousel with horses that actually "neighed". Then four floors underground with every shop imaginable: one story for car sales, one story for beauty, one story for fashion, one story for electronics and computers... but no toilets anywhere. (there were plenty of toilets in the Louvre!! [Bruce]).

After a short rest chez nous we did another walk in our neighbourhood

Galleries and Language Schools

Tuesday, 18 April 2006

We went our separate ways today. Bruce wanted to go to a couple of galleries and Ginnie wanted to explore other things.

Bruce visited the Musee d'Orsay where he found a really interesting exhibition of photographs taken between 1840 and 1900 and then, of course, went to look at the Impressionists. The d'Orsay is in an old railway station and has a wonderful collection especially of the Impressionists. After lunch there he went to the Rodin museum which is really a beautiful sculpture park with all the pieces that everyone has seen pictures of including "the thinker" and the "Burghers of Calais." It is so beautiful and peaceful that you have the sense that you want return there again and again.

Ginnie is a serious French language student having studied it to A Level standard in England many years ago. She still has a weekly lesson in Hobart with a native speaking teacher. She discovered an accredited French language school via the Internet and has been in correspondence with them. It is very close to the area in which we are staying and she would love to study there. Perhaps the opportunity will present at some time in the future. Anyway, today she went down to see the school. High security--she pressed all of the buttons to be let in and obeyed all the instructions. Nobody presented and she managed to tour the entire school without interruption. A little bit concerned about what this says for the school's security. She might try again another day.

Still very cold. When we left the flat this morning it was struggling to hang in around five degrees and now, at 8.00 in the evening, it has risen to a scorching eleven degrees. The flat however is heated and even when we don't use the heat the fact that it is on the first floor of a six storey building means that it is usually pretty well insulated from the cold. Wonder what it would be like when the temperature gets into the mid-30s. I am not sure we really want to know!

Easter Monday, 17 April 2006

Being "un jour feriere" (public holiday), we were not sure what would be open/closed. So, we took the predictable option of a stroll up and down the Elysian Fields also known as the Champs Elysee. We wanted to go to the Musee de L'Ongerie which houses many of the famous of Monet, especially his water-lillies but we discovered it is closed for upgrading (how do you upgrade a Monet?) and although the signs say it will reopen in 2005, this is, after all, Paris; where time seems in more than one way, to stand still. We had to settle for a walk up past all of the amazing sights on the Champs Elysee.

We had lunch on the Boulevard in a lovely bistro which catered to our tastes marred only by the fact that almost everyone smokes everywhere. And that includes at the table between courses (is that "intercourse" smoking? and "how was it for you?") and without consideration for other diners. A few restaurants are now offering un "espace non fumeur" or non-smoking area and we must all start asking for it to get the ball rolling. We admired some wonderful clothes by all the top designers and wondered where ordinary people shopped. In one terribly exclusive shop we saw a pair of jeans priced at 400 euros or about 800 Australian dollars. They looked as if they needed to go straight-away for repairs if the condition around the knees and bum were any indication.

Having walked off our lunch we treated ourselves to an almond biscuit then back to our suburban way of life in Montmartre for grocery shopping, laundry and all that jazz.

Easter Sunday

Sunday, 16 April

Easter Sunday. It is bleak and the coldest day since we arrived. Bravely rugged up, we headed toward the Luxemburg Gardens. Had a delightful time wandering through these magnificent public gardens with their joggers, tai chi exercisers and small children on their pony rides.

From the Gardens we went to St Sulpice, a magnificent neo-classical church built between 1773 and 1776. Quite aside from the Easter celebrations the Church crowd was probably attracted by the fact that it features so prominently in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Gloriously spacious inside, the organ was playing and it was a sort of continuous feast to celebrate Easter.

It was too cold to spend much more time out of doors so we got a couple of baguettes, ate them, wandered down to the Place de la Concorde. This is sometimes the greatest traffic jam in Europe, covering as it does 20 acres in the middle of the city. Fortunately for us, it was relatively quiet and we found a metro station with a direct line back to our section of the city.
Even though it is Easter Sunday, the Rubbish is still collected twice daily and the streets are washed down at least once a day. Not surprising when you consider that people here live in flats and that most of the buildings are six to seven stories high. That would create a lot of rubbish. But the flats are in beautiful buildings and we are only ten minutes from the centre of Paris on the Metro.

Hope you all had a good and happy Easter or Passover - take your choice.

Saturday, 15 April 2006

today we went for a walk through the Latin Quarter. This is the left bank (Rive Gauche) where the university conducted its affairs in Latin. It was always considered a hotbed of unrest and clearly this continues since there were gendarmes posted in front of the Sorbonne and it was blocked off. And we, of course, had chosen Saturday to go there thinking if anything, it would be more peaceful.

We discovered the Jardin Des Plantes which is part of the Natural History complex; a huge are including a vast park, a zoo and lots of exhibition halls. Bruce was most taken by a dragon which was sitting in the middle of the gardens. We also came across the Hopital de La Pitie-Salpetreiere . . . where Diana died. (Though she was probably dead ages before they got her there).

Got caught in the rain and were challenged to find a new Metro route back to our digs. Good fun. Now planning tomorrow's adventures!

Friday, 14 April 2006

It's Good Friday and, of course, you would expect everything to be closed. Much to our surprise that isn't the way here in France. Apparently it is not a holiday although for many it may be a Holy Day. We learned the French for "Holy Week," which is "La Semaine Ste".

This morning we took the Monmartrebus up to the "Butte" or top of the hill of Montmartre. This bus was a real find. It departs from outside the town hall of Montmartre and weaves its way up steep and gloriously picturesque streets to Sacre Coeur itself. The Place du Tetre is overly touristy, with dozens of "artists" competing to draw your picture, paint your portrait or cut out your silhoutte. Nonetheless, the views from any and every angle are magnificent right across the city of Paris and even the Eiffel tower seems dwarfed from this height.

There is so much to see and take in, including the one remaining vineyard in Paris and the famous Bistro, Au Lapin Agile, that we strolled back to the flat quite slowly looking at everything that seemed to be of even the vaguest interest.

By the way, for those of you reading this in Hobart, go to The Salad Bowl, buy one of their 500 gm packets of smoked salmon on special for about $A8.50, go home and scoff the lot. You would never be able to do that in Paris where smoked salmon costs between $A150 and $A200 per kg. Yes, you are reading this correctly - for a 500 gm packet such as you get at the Salad Bowl, you would be very fortunate to pay less than $A75.00.

It's all about housework

Thursday, 13 April 2006

There's no escaping it. No matter where you go, there is always housework to be done so that was the start of the day. We discovered all sorts of interesting and fascinating bits of information. For example - cream cleanser in Paris is just like cream cleanser in Hobart; bleach is bleach, washing up liquid is washing up liquid - the only difference is guess what? The price and the language on the labels.

Our morning's exploration found us heading for the nearest Metro station which (and why should our luck change) is closed for three months for renovation. We wandered down to the touristy area of this arrondissement, Rue Lepic (pictured) and bravely hazarded the trials of the postal service to get the stamps for some postcards. Don't expect these since the cost of the stamp is nine times the cost of the postcard. Honestly, it costs about AU$1.80 to post a twenty cent card.

The Bureau de Poste was at the Place des Abbesses which is also a major Metro station. Bruce bought our Carnet (10 passes) and managed, even with his rudimentary French to complete the transaction successfully. We went to L'Opera and walked down the Avenue to the Palais Royal where we spent a pleasant hour in the beautiful gardens. This was followed by a pleasant stroll along the Rue de Rivoli finishing up with lunch at a very touristy bistro (a mistake not to be repeated) and then home for an afternoon nap.

Paris at last

11 April 2006 from Paris

From Paris - and a damn close thing it was too. We arrived at Waterloo station with several hours to kill before boarding the Eurostar from Gare de Nord in Paris. Everything seemed to be progressing quite reasonably until ten minutes before we were due to leave an ominous sounding voice announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. Due to difficulties on the line, the departure of the Eurostar for Paris has been delayed. More information will be provided as it comes to hand." An hour later after several equally uninformative announcements rumour had begun to spread that there had been an explosion on the line. What else would you expect - Terrorists. Well, not exactly. As it turned out it was apparently a house with a gas leak which blew up throwing debris over the line.

Since we were through customs and actually considered to be in France (albeit still at Waterloo Station), they seemed a bit confused about how to deal with all this. They first announced that all Eurostar services had been suspended until further notice. They then advised people waiting to go away and travel at a later date. For those of us (the great majority) who had no intention of going away they eventually decided to get us past the problem area and allow us to pick up the train at Ashford, about an hour down the line and just before the train would enter the Chunnel. About 1,000 of us left the security area, trundling our bags across Waterloo Station during rush hour to Waterloo East. The platform there was a heaving, seething mass of angry, frustrated people with suitcase as full as their bladders in many instances.

Eventually a local commuter train arrived and we crammed ourselves into it for the hour-long journey to Ashford. No toilets available on the train which meant the number of people travelling with their legs crossed and tightly at that was significant. Remember we had been waiting for a long time at Waterloo and, of course, kept drinking coffee or tea.

At Ashford International things deteriorated. To be fair, this station was trying to cope with a situation of considerable difficulty. Trains were arriving from both Paris and London and dumping hundreds of passengers who had to be ferried by Ashford staff around the affected areas of the line. The trouble was that passengers were kept in the dark so, not surprisingly, tempers frayed. Eventually we got on the Eurostar and arrived about four hours late - and we were among the lucky ones.

It was quite an adventure but we "went with the flow" and found it interesting from an organisational behaviour point of view. So, I can hear you saying, "are you having a good time in Paris?" Hell yes!

NEXT DAY

According to the thermometer hanging outside our bedroom window, it was 3 degrees at 7.00 am. By teatime it had struggled to 14 rather shaky degrees. Thank goodness we had not fallen into the "April in Paris" spring thing and had taken coats, hats, scarves and gloves. We ventured north this morning on foot to the non-tourist part of the 18th Arrondissement and had some rather wonderful surprises. This area has been shabby for many years but has now suddenly had a revitalisation. Prices are right and many young couples with first and second children have moved into the area. So there are pre-schools, schools, high schools and lots and lots of children. The shopping is delightful composed as it is of small shops, street markets, restaurants, bistros and everything that one associates with Paris.

Although there are larger food markets, similar to Coles and Woolies, there are far more small food shops, butcheries, boulangeries, fromageries and charcuteries (we may not know much French, but we know all of the "food" words). The bread shops bake four to six times a day with the last baking being around 7.00 pm when there are queues of people getting the bread for their evening meal. Early morning openings guarantee the freshest of croisants for your table - Yum. Amazed to learn that there are 365 different cheeses available; one for every day of the year. Unfortunately, being here only 25 days we won't be able to sample them all. The one thing we seem unable to find is Vegemite. I am in deep sh-t with Ginnie who I talked out of buying it at the London duty-free. Tomorrow, to avoid my life being made a virtual hell, I am doing a full reconoitre of Paris in search of the black stuff.

At mid-day we wandered down to a place at which we had eaten when last we were here and were delighted to find that not only was it still thriving, but the quality of food was just as high as previously. Wonderful meal and then a longish afternoon nap. This evening it is back to basics with housework and laundry. It's 9.00 pm now, and the daily rubbish collection is just taking place; they probably work on weekends here too! And speaking of civic cleanliness, every Parisian seems to have a dog which manages to poop on the footpath every day. Sometimes I am not sure if we are walking or dancing.

Ginnie's in hot water - or at least in Bath

Ginnie speaking:

If you are ever going to do a rail journey in the UK, it is worth checking fares on the internet. Today I went to Paddington to Bath Spa to meet my old friend, Mike, for lunch. He had warned me about fares (i.e. that paying on the day would cost me in the region of 150 pounds. Bruce checked this up and found it to be true. The return fare he managed to get for me on line was 45 pounds. If I had paid on the day it would have been 165 pounds. Incredible but true.
I had a super day, really enjoying the scenery from Paddington down to Bath Spa; old familiar places still there. However, the box tunnel which used to take more than ten minutes to get through on the steam trains of my childhood now takes just a couple of minutes with the modern high speed trains. Bath was great; as busy as always. It would have been really splended without all the pesky Australian tourists. Mike took me to the Rose and Crown, a typical British pub at Charterhouse, an ancient Somerset village. After a lengthy pub lunch, we went on to The George at Norton St Phillips. The buildings which now constitute this pub featured significantly in the Battle of Sedgewick. It was a place Mike and I used to frequent back in our teens. Bruce and I have tried to find it several times because I know he would be interested in it. Now that I have relocated it we will have to come back again.

The day progressed with a drive back to Bath and afternoon tea at the Pump Room. The trip back to London was uneventful and Bruce met me at Paddington and took me to dinner at a stylish Italian Restaurant near our hotel. A lovely day!

Bruce speaking:

While Ginnie was having a ball in Bath, I revisited some of my favourite spots in London. The first, of course, was the laundromat to catch up on our dirty linen. But after that everything improved (that's not surprising). I went to the National Portrait Gallery and visited an exhibition of paintings of theatre personalities. My favourite portrait was that of Judi Dench; one of those striking pictures where the eyes follow you wherever you go. There was also a very nice, informal portrait of the royal family.

From the portrait gallery I moved on to the National Gallery to look at their nineteenth century collection and the El Grecos. In both cases they have relatively small collections and while they are good, they are not great. I think the Tate and Courtault are generally better and certainly the Tate is better on the pre-Raphaelites.

The afternoon was spent in a long and very enjoyable walk along the Victoria Embankment and around the Palace of Westminster. It would have been really splended without all the Brits there. A little time checking my e-mail and then met Ginnie on her return from Bath Spa and went for a nice Italian dinner.

Tomorrow its the Eurostar to Paris.

London - Fabulous as ever...

The long haul is over and here we are in London! The flight wasn't too bad. Taking off seemed a problem; we had the sense of what a seagull would have felt like trying to lift off with sandbags under its wings. It was never going to happen and we found ourselves hoping there wasn't a stone wall at the end of the runway. Then, suddenly, we lurched into the air and 400+ people gave a collective sigh of relief.
Not long after takeoff, and certainly before the seat belt sign was turned off, some kid from two rows behind uttered those five words every parent has come to know and hate: "Are we nearly there yet?" Arghhh. No, kid, just another fourteen hours to go!

Remember the days when they showed a film and you watched it whether you wanted to or not? Boy have times changed, particularly over the last twelve months. Each seat, would have had a choice of around 40 films, not to mention TV shows, news and sports. Even last year, when there was a good choice, you were locked into watching films as they were recycled for the whole plane. Now you choose your film and it starts for you whenever you are ready. Anyway, the entertainment system is now incredible - but the food is still lousy. A year or so ago, QANTAS was making a big thing of their new chefs and nouvelle cuisine. Well, the nouvelle is the "same old, same old" and not very impressive. You no longer get decent cutlery, refresher towels or choice of wines and service is petty poor as well.

An hour before we finally got to Heathrow, they peeled Ginnie off the back window where she had glued herself and was shouting hysterically, "I see them, I see them, the white cliffs of Dover and was doing her Vera Lynn rendition of "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when..." However, when all is said and done it was a safe and uneventful flight with a landing so smooth we barely realised we had touched down. Then, of course, we get to the fun bit.

God alone and the air traffic controllers have any idea of the number of 747s that arrive at Heathrow every day at between 6.00 and 7.00 in the morning. It must be close to one per minute and each of these has 400+ passengers all of whom have to clear immigration. So why, oh why, did they think that two passport control officers could cope? And of course, if that wasn't enough they decided to hold a stop-work meeting with over 2,500 people waiting to clear. And, of course, some people can't abide waiting. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and it was really quite frightening because you could sense that the frustration might boil over at any moment. Imagine that, 15 hours cooped up in a cigar tube and when you finally get out you are trampled to death in the arrivals hall by maddened fellow passengers!

And so to London. As fabulous as ever but surprisingly cold. Most of the trees are completely bare although a very few of the blossom trees showing a hint of life. A few daffodils in Hyde Park peeking through; but not much else. The new double-decker buses are sleek but lack the charm of the older open-backed ones.

Tomorrow Ginnie heads off to Bath. We saved 120 pounds (yes pounds) by booking her train tickets on the internet rather than waiting until we arrived. It was a simple procedure today to go to the station and convert the internet booking to live tickets. While Ginnie is in Bath, I am going to hit some of the art galleries and maybe take in a show in the West End.

Saturday and we are going on to London tonight. This morning I went for a long walk through Singapore with Sam Wong and saw the new Parliament House, the new Singapore School of Management and the Singapore Entertainment Centre. The walk along the river was lovely and there are a number of street sculputers that are quite outstanding. My favourite is of the boys diving into the river. While I was out walking Ginnie stayed back in the room claiming she would be doing the ironing but when I returned she was out and when she returned it was with several bags with designer names thereon!

We were picked up at the hotel by Steven Tan, Valerie's Dad, who must have a sixth sense about Ginnie's primary love (and I don't mean me). He took us to the Singapore Cricket Club where we had a lunch in the members. He also treated us to Singapore Cricket Club shirts which we will wear with pride and to the envy of some (get that Wilba). It was lovely to see him and hear that he is very pleased with the way Jane is caring for his daughter.

This afternoon we were joined by Stephen Phua, Sarah and Victoria. They were very pleased to hear the news from Jane and Stephen has suggested the setting up of a Singapore chapter to bring together past and present students of Jane, their families, the education agents, etc. He was very enthusiastic about this and plans to contact Jack. During the summer he had current Jane Singapore students to his home and they seemed enthusiastic about the meeting.

We are now sitting in the QANTAS lounge at Singapore airport and probably won't be in touch for a while as we prepare for the long haul to the UK and Paris.

Arrival in Singapore

An uneventful seven hour flight with all the films, music and entertainment one could want. That took up the first two hours or so; another hour for meals left just four very dreary hours in which to contemplate our own mortality!

The arrival at Changi Airport, Singapore, was as smooth and well organised as ever. We discovered that the benchmark for getting baggage from the plane to the carousel is twelve minutes. Beats hell out of just about anywhere else; including Hobart and particularly London Heathrow. Fifteen dollars for the taxi to our hotel, The Phoenix, on Orchard Road where we checked in and had a restful night's sleep.

Up early this morning for (I'm quoting Ginnie here) the big shopping day. Did Orchard Road first but I was canny: the shops don't open until 10.30! However she won in the long run and took us in a taxi straight out to Raffles where the prices are significantly higher than in Orchard Road. Two Singapore Slings in the Long Bar set my pension back by two full weeks and a bit but she promised to take me for lunch. We toasted Jane (after all it is Friday afternoon) and more importantly drank a toast in memory of my dear friend, Louise Goldhagen. Since I was unable to attend her memorial service today, I had promised Phil, her husband, that we would toast her with a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar at Raffles.

Fantastic Lunch - we went to the Seah Street Deli in the Raffles complex. Ginnie shouted me to a great New York style meal (which she then charged to my American Express Card). Served me right, I suppose. Besides, it seems a bit weird coming to Singapore for a great New York deli style lunch. Anyway, the alcohol knocked us out for the afternoon but by 5.00 we were ready for another round of fun and so started a really interesting evening in the company of Sam Wong (father of Ken, one of our Jane students).

Sam met us at our hotel and we then went for dinner at a very interesting, non-tourist, Japanese restaurant. Sam is the principal of Kranji Primary School (1,500+ students aged 7 to 12 years). He is doing some really interesting things within the framework of the Singapore curriculum and nothing shows it more than his success with his students both on their exams and in their personal and sporting achievements. A very inspirational man, and one we look forward to seeing again in Hobart or Singapore.

Tomorrow Sam and I are going on a photographic walk. He is a keen photographer and has promised to show me some of his favourite sites. We are going to the Marina which is about to be redeveloped in a really big way. It is quite controversial including as it will two casinos.
The weather is typical Singapore; hot and humid. Even Sam commented on it!

Sydney and some thoughts on distance

Sydney is actually clearer and nicer than the weather reports suggested. We arrived (dare I say) with a "crash." I think the pilot misjudged his distance from the ground and we landed with one hell of a thump.

Ginnie is busily doing the rounds of duty-free despite her earlier statements that there was nothing she needed or wanted.

The QANTAS lounge is like all such lounges the world over. If you didn't know you were in Sydney you could just as easily be in Los Angeles, New York or London. Distance seems so long in terms of the time (14 hours cooped up in an elongated cigar tube) and so short at the same time. I remember reading something a year or two ago about how trains changed travel in the UK removing and distancing the traveller from the landscape. Air travel has extended that, distancing us to the point where we cannot even see the landscape, let along smell it, touch it or hear it.

We'll try to send another message from Singapore.

Departure from Hobart

Cold! Wet! Windy! Just the kind of weather to be heading off in. We leave Hobart at mid-morning and fly to Sydney where, apparently the only difference in the weather is that it is warmer. A three hour lay-over there and we big-bird it to Singapore. One thing is for sure, it won't be cold there. We'll probably be wishing it was cooler.

Packing was finished last night and we are very proud of ourselves. We are only taking two medium-small suitcases, two carry-ons and a computer. That's the advantage of having a washing machine where we are going. We are also taking all our old clothes so, like Hansel and Gretel with the crumbs, we can leave a trail of abandoned clothes if anyone needs to rescue us.

We just set this "blog" up this morning before departing and hope we will be able to upload text and pictures while we are on the road. Watch this spot!