Bonjour!

Yes, we are BACK! What a holiday! We got back on Monday morning I think it will be NEXT Monday before we fall back into the normal routine again. Sleeping is still all over the shop and routines are non-existent, we've all got some sort of cold or flu, and there's a definite flatness to everything after 3 and a half weeks of daily highlights. Now this is a long post, so if you want to read it all, I'll give you a sec to grab a cuppa and maybe a tim tam or two and get comfy...........OK, ready now? Here it goes:

DAY 1 - Friday 4th April


An early start and then we were off! All the flights went well, the plane was average but the service good and soon we were in Singapore! It feels very familiar now, and we loved the hotel our dear friend Sheryn booked us, the Swissotel Merchant Court, overlooking the river and the brightly painted buildings of Clarke Quay. We popped out (to Hooters of course, home of curly fries, our fave spot on the Quay) for some dinner and then an early night.





DAY 2 - Saturday 5th April


Up early and after breakfast at the hotel we realised it was still some time before shops opened so we walked up the hill at Fort Canning Park and all the way to the Bugis Street Markets and onto another of our fave shopping joints in Singers, the Funan Centre, a mall purely for electronic stuff! We got the kids a really cheap digital camera and Chris got himself a new one, as his died the night before we left. We spent the rest of the day in the pool before packing up and heading to the airport. It was a long drawn out evening and Ronin fell asleep long before we boarded the flight, and slept a good 6 or 7 hours. We were on the newly refurbished Boeing 777 which is the same inside as the new A380, there were so many movies, TV shows, games and so much music that we could have stayed on there for days and not seen or heard the same thing twice!





DAY 3 - Sunday 6th April


Landed in Paris and met by our transfer mini-bus. The kids fell asleep on the way to the hotel and we had to wake them up for their first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! Our hotel, the Mercure Suffren Tour Eiffel was right at the foot of the tower, less than 5mins walk, we had a partial view of it from our poky little room. By now all 3 of my family (that is, excluding me!) were sick with sniffles, coughs and in Chris's case a chest infection so first stop was a pharmacy for drugs! It was freezing outside so lots of coats and things! The Paris Marathon was being run so we wanted to avoid the route so decided to travel via boat on the Seine. We could only go down as far as the Louvre because further on was off limits due to recent flooding! No problem, the first Sunday of every month the Louvre has free admission. The queue at the glass pyramid entrance was around the block but by the time we got to the end we literally had to run to keep up with the speed it moved and we were soon inside. Not having to justify any entrance fee we kept it simply and fought through the crowds to see the Mona Lisa - check! the Venus de Milo - check! and Winged Victory - check! A few things on the way and then checked out the inverted glass pyramid (for those of you who are fans of the Da Vinci Code you'll know what I mean!) and then lunch in the food hall (there is a whole mall there!). By now we were getting a wee bit tired so we caught the Batobus boat back to the Eiffel Tower, where the queues were still verrrrry long, and to the hotel for a rest. After a couple of hours sleep, we couldn't even wake Ronin up to go out for dinner so we stayed in and had room service and watched French TV!





DAY 4 - Monday 7th April


Still struggling with the time zone changes, we were awake early again and out and about after brekky at the hotel. Today, would you believe it, was the Olympic Torch Relay and the Eiffel Tower was completely blocked it until 2pm. So we hopped the Metro to Notre Dame. Inside we lit candles for a couple of people who asked us to, and one for Auntie Cara and the girls. Ronin asked if he could light another candle as he had another wish and when Chris asked him what his "wish" was he said "To get the heck out of here! It's creepy!". So I guess he's not one for old churches! Taylor and I continued to look around while Dad and Roni waited outside then we were off, buying beanies and scarves and gloves then back to the Metro, where we wandered round in circles catching trains to wrong places until we gave up ever making it to Montmatre to see the Sacre Coer. So we headed back to the Eiffel Tower and the very first station we sped through was the one we were after! We'd had enough by then though so back to the Tower. As we left the station we had to wait as the Olympic Torch Relay passed and was over-ran by anti-Chinese protestors (against their treatment of Tibet). The Tower was still closed so we found a cute restaurant and had a lovely lunch (wow, they make good French Onion Soup over there! LOL!) before finding out the queues were quite short at the Tower. We planned to go up the top but the EFTPOS machine was down and we only had enough cash for level 2, which was great as it turned out (and not just for not-so-cool-about-heights-and-edges ME) because there were piles of ice up there and the wait to go up to the top was another hour. No way would Ronin have waited for that, a few looks across the city and he had had enough of the cold and crowds. We went back down and guess what? It started SNOWING! Only light flakes, and soon we were walking in it towards the Arc d'Triomphe and the Champs Elysee. The Arc was off-limits as there was a ceremony of sorts going on there with bands and Gendarmerie and everything but we took a few photos and then walked down the Champs Elysee to.......McDonalds for dinner! We took a cab back to the hotel and just crashed! But we saw all we wanted to see and had a great couple of days!





DAY 5 - Tuesday 8th April


Up early again, breakfasted and some last minute souvenir shopping and "bye bye" to the Eiffel Tower and then we caught a cab to the Gard du Nord railway station to catch the Eurostar. The customs routine was messy and not very thorough but soon we had piled our luggage into the carriage and we were hurtling at 300kph (a little less through the Channel Tunnel) and in no time at all (2hr 15mins) we were arriving at the wonderful new St Pancras International station, right opposite the Kings Cross tube station. We caught our first London Cab, to our hotel, the Thistle Marble Arch. The hotel is huge and our room was gorgeous, a big Executive room with king sized bed and a single sofa bed, and, after a bit of a drama, another bed for Tay as well. The room was very large including a big plasma telly and a big bathroom with nordic steam shower. We checked in and left them to sort out the extra bed while we headed out for a look around. We were right on Oxford St, opposite the fabulous PRIMARK discount department store with shops and take-aways all about. Brilliant. We walked right up Baker St and found the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a cute little place, and had a look around in there before heading back to the hotel for dinner in the room.





DAY 6 - Wednesday 9th April


Happy Birthday to Me!!! How exciting to be in London for my 45th birthday! After brekky we caught a bus to Westminster and looked at (but didn't travel on) the London Eye, Tay and I walked through Westminster Abbey, where we were in awe of things like Queen Elizabeth I's tomb and the Coronation Chair, used for every Monarch's coronation since 1066. We grabbed some takeaway for lunch and met up with Chris's cousin Trish for afternoon tea at our hotel. She is a lovely girl, looks a lot like Debbie might when she is a bit older! Then we got ready and had some nibblies in our room before heading to the West End where "The Lion King" was showing at the Lyceum Theatre. It was a truly fantastic show, Chris and I had tears in our eyes a we watched the two kids, Ronin especially (who did not even want to go) when the lights went down and the characters began singing and dancing their way down the aisles beside us. We were 5 rows from the front in the centre Stalls and our view was excellent. We all just loved it, even though the poor little fella conked out 5mins into the second half and slept through the rest! He even clapped in his sleep a couple of times when he dozed off, so funny! Chris had to carry him, as I hobbled across the cobblestones of Covent Garden in my new stiletto boots, across town to catch a cab back to the hotel! A very memorable birthday!





DAY 7 - Thursday 10th April


This morning after breakfast we were met at 9am by our Driver/Guide Richard for our Black Taxi Harry Potter Tour. Richard was a font of knowledge and came armed with a DVD player showing all the sites as they appeared in the movies, which made it all the more exciting! First stop was Kings Cross Station where he showed us such things as the bridge used in a couple of movies, the platform where the wizards enter through the archway into Platform 9 3/4 (which is now blocked by a cemented-in trolley return to stop people running trollies into the wall and breaking arms, legs and heads!) and many others. The station is under major renovation so a few of the sites are no longer there but it was great anyway. Outside the station a permanent reminder of it's part in the HP movies can be seen with a Station 9 3/4 sign on an archway with half a trolley disappearing into the wall behind. Richard pulled some costumes for the kids out of his magic bag and we took photos of them there. After a few more sites Ronin complained of a sore tummy before throwing up everywhere! Richard pulled over and Chris and I had thought quick and managed to minimise any mess and a pack of wipes fixed up the rest, however they still charged us $90 soilage! He was going to charge more but I beat him down a bit, after all Chris, who was freezing having wrapped Ronin in his jacket, had gotten out in Regent St and gone back to the hotel. Taylor and I continued the tour which was great, and Richard deposited us at Covent Garden but after paying the big fee and worrying about my boy (despite texts from Chris telling me he was fine) we packed it in and caught a cab back fairly soon after. We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon, Chris and Ronin returning early again when Roni felt a bit green, but it turned out to be nothing and after buying a few things we went back for dinner at the hotel carvery.





DAYS 8, 9, 10 - Friday 11th April - Sunday 13th April


Today we collected the car from the rental depot, which would you believe was right next door to the hotel! A happy coincidence! It was a nice and comfy blue Saab, we had wanted to upgrade to a Merc but the bags wouldn't fit in the boot! It didn't take too long to get out of London and the GPS got us on the way. We forgo most of the touring due to the late start but we did try to find the White Horse of Uffington, however despite meandering through the countryside and traipsing through sheep filled fields, unless you have a helicopter it's a bit hard to make out! ROFL! Onward to Stottesdon in Shropshire to visit our friends Diana and Peter. Pulling into their cobblestoned driveway after miles of narrow hedge-edged laneways, we were confronted with the most beautiful 250yo renovated farmhouse, with outbuildings including a double garage and another containing a sauna, spa and pool room. It was so, so wonderful to see Diana and the boys waiting for us, as she welcomed us inside to her big, warm and cosy farmhouse kitchen! We had a tour of everything, including the boys' rooms where hamster Dave attacked Chris's finger (there was blood everywhere!) and outside the kids played and Ronin climbed inside the chicken coop ROFL! Later, we drank champagne and caught up, Peter came home before dinner time and Diana made the kids spag bol and Pete ordered in Chinese for the adults. It was such a nice night, great conversation and good wine, a bit of Playstation Guitar Hero and some telly as well! Eventually we traipsed up to the attic to our beautiful big room with it's ancient ribbed ceiling and gorgeous ensuite bathroom with claw footed tub overlooking the beautiful countryside. The kids also had their own room on the second floor, with bunks and cosy comforters, close to the boys' rooms and the master bedroom. So comfy!


Thanks guys!





The next two days were great, lots of relaxing, caught up with all the washing, drove into Ludlow and went to a local Point to Point steeplechase race meeting, so funny - and so COLD! Climbed over Ludlow castle, had a pub dinner and the following day walked into the village for a pub lunch - yummy! Diana bought me a beautiful handbag for my birthday and gave me a lovely "friendship" tile which I have put in my scrapping room. We got hooked on some UK reality TV and we hardly saw the kids, they were playing all the time and having a ball!





DAY 11 - Monday 14th April


Very sad to leave our friends this morning, headed straight to Chester, one of my favourite cities. Chris and the kids agreed with me and we enjoyed wandering around the city walls and the pretty streets with their tudor buildings, down to the River Dee. Had the BEST lunch in a little Italian cafe, truly the most delicious garlic bread EVER! Then it was off to Cumbria where we stopped in Windermere and had lots of fun walking through "The World of Beatrix Potter" before heading down the road to Newby Bridge where our hotel was. The website was much more flattering to this hotel than the reality but the room was OK, with a big four poster curtained bed for Chris and I and a sofabed for the kids, with French doors opening out into a pretty garden. We went into Windermere and got some groceries and had tea of nibblies in our room before turning in.





DAY 12 - Tuesday 15th April


Today we were off to Glasgow, we had planned a few stops on the way but the weather was dreadful and after a stop during a sunny moment where we had a "boot lunch" of the groceries we got in Windermere, we were on our way again. Glasgow is a big, industrial city, very grey and dark. The Marriott hotel was nice, as was our room. We headed off for a walk into town, in the centre it was much nicer, it reminded me a bit of Melbourne somehow. We stopped in a mall for a warm drink and it was here we found the first Build A Bear store. With nothing really else to do we decided to let the kids Build A Bear. Ronin chose a teddy which he named Cuddly and Tay chose a dog she named Hamish. We headed back to our room with huge cardboard box "homes" with them inside and two very happy kids!





DAY 13 - Wednesday 16th April


Off to the Highlands today! Another boot lunch, this time Loch-side at historic Fort William with Ben Nevis towering over us. Onward to Loch Ness and the scenery was stunning, simply breathtaking. Rugged snowcapped mountains towered on either sides of the road, surrounded by winter-desolate fields and streams and waterfalls rushing with water from the melting snow. Truly awesome. First stop was Urquhart Castle, shadowing the waters of Loch Ness. It has origins in the 6th century and played a key role in the battle for Scottish Independance before being burned by the inhabitants as the fled, wanting to leave nothing for the Jacobite marauders, in the mid 1600s. The visitors centre is new since last I was here and the kids really enjoyed crawling all over it, Ronin especially loved the recreated trebuchet! Next we headed into Drumnidrochit where we visited the Loch Ness Visitor's Centre and learned all about he ledgend of Nessie, The Loch Ness Monster and then we were off to Inverness and our hotel for the night. After the disappointment of Newby Bridge I was a bit nervous and approaching the Dunain Park Hotel which was half-covered in scaffolding I was even more so. We gathered our key and headed off in the indicated direction to the bottom of the garden where an old outbuilding has been converted into two cottages. OMG, you had to see it to believe it! Obviously it was only recently done, there was a bedroom upstairs for the kids with two single beds, a HUGE bedroom downstairs with a King Sized Bed and beautiful decor, a kitchen, dining room and a sunken lounge with fireplace, huge plasma telly and views out across the countryside with the lights of Inverness below. We could have stayed there for weeks! As it was, we decided to have dinner there, and Chris and Tay went into Inverness and brought back Pizza, we kicked back in front of the fire, what a lovely evening!





DAY 14 - Thursday 17th April


I got up early and just stared out at the view, curled up on the comfy couch and read my book! Heaven! But soon it was time to get moving and now we were off to Edinburgh. From Inverness to Perth we enjoyed more of that stunning scenery and then we hit the lowlands as we neared Edinburgh. The Apex Hotel caters well for kids and they got big goody bags full of toys and free choice of kids' DVDs to watch that night. We rugged up and headed up through the Grassmarket area where our hotel was located to Edinburgh Castle looming above us. We walked up the Royal Mile and all over the Castle before heading down to Princes St to look around the shops. Needless to say we found the local BuildABear store and the kids picked out outfits for their new babies! We had a room service dinner which was VERY yummy and watched the kids' two movies and then crashed out. Was another great day!





DAY 15 - Friday 18th April


Off early again today, we stopped at Jedburgh Abbey on the way and despite misty rain the kids dressed up in the proffered period costumes and Tay took the recorded tour and we crawled over the site, pretty much alone. It was lovely and very interesting. The weather didn't improve so we decided not to go in search of Hadrian's Wall and went straight to York. Our hotel, the Best Western Monk Bar Hotel, was literally right next to Monk Bar, one of the ancient gates to the walled city of York. I was going to do the washing but the landrette was already closed, par for the course in York as we discovered, as most everything shuts at 5pm except for the restaurants, pubs and bars! We strolled around the beautiful cobbled streets, including the famed Shambles with its higgeldy piggeldy houses after which the term "shambles" is named. We found a Pizza Hut which suited the kids' dining habits, and then after dinner we meandered back to our huge room, which despite the scaffolding (yes more of it!) looked out directly at the Roman walls!





DAY 16 - Saturday 19th April 2008


We had a leisurely start today, enjoyed breakfast at the hotel then straight into town, where we walked the walls as far as the National Railway Museum. We rode the giant ferris wheel, the Yorkshire Wheel, which has great views over the city, then had a good look through the Museum, which is housed in the old railyards and even has the original working turntable. After that we headed to "Dig", which is an interactive archeological adventure attraction and has "pits" set up for the kids to use their plastic trowels in, to uncover bones and relics, some real and some replicas of actual finds. Each pit is from a different era represented in York, Victorian, Medieval, Viking and Roman. Afterwards the archeologists that work there gave an instructional talk, we played with sorting some bones and bits and pieces and saw some Viking poo! We walked around the streets for ages after lunch, doing a bit of shopping, then had room service dinner (yummy!) and baths and then watched some of our new shows in bed!





DAY 17 - Sunday 20th April 2008


Today was an exciting day as we were going to Essex to meet Chris's family. The trip was longer than we planned due to the horrid traffic on the M25 and we were in our last set of clean clothes, not necessarily our nicest, and everyone was a bit uptight and grumpy but when we walked in that all changed as we were met by not just Uncle Brian and Auntie Pat but a whole slew of relatives! It was a great day and we made some connections that I hope will last forever! Back at the hotel, which was set in a "Leisure Park" full of restaurants, cinemas, nightclubs and a bowling alley to name a few, we had a fantastic dinner at "Benny & Frankie's" Italian restaurant, a fun night to top off a momentuous day.





DAY 18 - Monday 21st April 2008


Today we got up early and dropped a whole suitcase full of grotty clothes at a full-service laundrette then dropped in to the local BuildABear shop (of course!) before heading to Brian and Pat's for lunch of leftovers from the feast the day before. Tay was Pat's helper and they regaled us with stories of the family going back generations... I really hope I have a chance to see them again one day. We collected the washing, repacked the bags, and ate at TGI Friday's but we were all pretty wrung out by then so it was an early night for us all.





DAY 19 - Tuesday 22nd April 2008


Got a good start this morning and soon it was off to Brighton. It got warmer the closer we got and when we arrived at the gorgeous old De Vere Grand overlooking the beach it was a sunny 17C. We drove up and down for a looksee and the kids played in the beach-side playground for a while before we checked-in. The room wasn't huge or have a view but it had a nice ambience. We headed out, with our jackets tied around our waists in deference to the heat, heading for the BuildABear store first (where Taylor finally gave in and changed the sex of her toy so she could buy the cute girly clothes, so now it's name is Hamish Rose, since Brighton is known as a popular Gay hangout this was quite hysterical), and a bit of lunch. Then we had a look at the Royal Pavilion, a huge "Taj Mahal" inspired building built by the then Prince of Wales for entertaining his friends. We wandered down through "The Lanes", lovely old cobbled streets full of gorgeous and interesting shops, and finally to the Brighton Pier, a huge Victorian pier complete with gigantic entertaining complex, amusement park, shops and eateries, it was brilliant fun and I even went on a ride with Tay and laughed til I was nearly sick! Back at the room with had to forgo room service due to the exhorbitant prices (it was $90 just for corkage!) and Chris and Tay went out and bought traditional fish and chips and we at that in the room, then we had baths, listening to the gulls cry outside, before turning in for a night of telly, and sleep!





DAY 20 - Wednesday 23rd April


This was a very big day so we were up early as the car had to be back by 6pm at the latest. Our first stop was Porsmouth, not too far away, and here we toured "The Victory", the warship upon which Nelson died during the battle of Waterloo, and had some lunch. Next stop was New Forest, where we were amazed upon reaching the large village of Brockhurst to find wild ponies, donkeys and even highland cattle roaming the streets! It was back roads nearly all the way, and more wild ponies, even Shetland ones! And then there it was. Stonehenge. Currently wedged between 2 main roads but soon one will be closed and the other rerouted into a tunnel beneath the plain, the visitor's centre a couple of kilometres away, it will be even more stunning. We circumnavigated it, Ronin absolutely loved it, and we were loathe to finally leave to return to London. Missing the turn off to the M25, known as "The Car Park" was a good thing, because it gave us a chance to get petrol, just next to Twickenham Stadium, before dropping the car off at about 2mins to 6! We checked back into the Thistle Marble Arch, after some drama got the same sort of room as last time, and then Tay and I went out and got some nibblies and Mackas for dinner. Telly and an early night then.





DAY 21 - Thursday 24th April


We headed off to Covent Garden this morning, for a bit of shopping (including BuildABear), which was fun, then we caught the tube to Piccadilly Circus and walked up Regent St to "Hamley's", 6 floors of toys, fantastic, (and another BuildABear in there) then tube to Baker Street where Madame Tussauds is located. The queue was hours long, and then we saw it would cost us nearly $200 for the four of us, so we had think and much to all our disappointment decided to give it a miss and headed back by cab to the hotel. We did some souvenir shopping in Oxford St, Ronin and Chris packed it in and headed back to the hotel and Tay and I finished then got some snacks for dinner in the room. We headed back and repacked everything for the flights home, had our snacks, then Tay and I headed over to Primark for some bargain shopping before we watched some telly (including Darts Championships, amazing the things you can get sucked into!) and slept.





DAY 22 - Friday 25th April


We had booked a minibus transfer to the airport for 9.30am, and when we got there the check in was pretty quick and we had time to do a bit MORE shopping before we left on the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in the sky, to Singapore. The plane is fantastic and the flight was smooth and comfortable, Ronin slept a few hours, Tay a couple.





DAY 23 - Saturday 26th April


We arrived in Singapore in the morning and couldn't check into the hotel til Midday so, exhausted though we were, we went and grabbed and bite then caught a cab to Orchard Road, walked though some of the shops then all the way down the end to the Plaza Singapura where, would you believe it, a new BuildABear store was opening right that moment ROFL! So more outfits for the kids' toys. Then we went back to the hotel, had a little nap, and then swam nearly all afternoon. We had dinner at Hooters on the Quay again, of course, and watched "Alvin & The Chipmunks" in our room before going to sleep.





DAY 24 - Sunday 27th April


We all woke up about 4am and in the end Chris and I each shared a bed with a kid and we all went back to sleep. I woke up and looked at the clock, what seemed like moments later, and had to physically get up and go check because it was 11 in the morning! Unbelievable, and it was 11.30 before we could even wake Ronin! ROFL! We put swimmers on and headed down to the pool, we got lunch by the pool, then swam some more and finally about 4pm we headed up to change for the flight. We got to the airport early and swiftly went through the formalities, grabbed a light dinner (mostly for Ronin who never eats the airline food) and boarded another A380 for the flight home. Tay got a couple of hours light sleep, Ronin slept about 4 hours I guess, Chris and I next to none.





DAY 25 - Monday 28th April


The plane landed about 6am and we were supposed to have nearly 4 hours wait in Sydney but the lovely Qantas girl got us on a 7.30am flight and so we rushed over the domestic, as fast as the transit bus would allow (ha ha) and got on just in time. So in the end we were home by 9.30am! Walked in to a warm, spotless house (thanks MIL!) and by the 3rd load of washing, everyone asleep on the couch, it all seemed like a distant memory...............





Well if you made it this far (come on, I know it took you DAYS), then you've probably had a couple of pots of tea, and at least a whole packet of Tim Tams ROFL!





Naturally, the internet went down by lunchtime on Monday and didn't come back up until Wednesday, but it gave me time to sort out my photos. I still haven't downloaded Chris and the kids' photos so be prepared for another slideshow soon, but I hope you enjoy what I've included here to start (we didn't take my big camera a lot of places, so there's a few holes here).





In the mail when I returned was this month's Scrapbooking Memories and in the Final Encore you will find THIS layout, one of my favourites. Hopefully I'll have some more to share with you soon! You'll also find layouts by fellow Scrap Heap ITers Debbie Bradley and Chrissy Berry in there too!





Thanks for hanging in there! It certainly was a trip and a half!





Love, Tracey