Euro tour day 28

Euro tour day 28

Today I woke a little late and had toast for breaky. I started wondering what I was going to do today as my head was still fuzzy from the trip from Paris. I knew where I wanted to go and headed towards Canning Fort which was a fort from when the British came to Singapore and its people thought the area was a burial ground for royalty and had named it forbidden hill or something like that. I wanted to go to the battle box where they talked about the fall of the British during the Second World War. I did ask the lady who was wandering around in a guard’s uniform at the entrance and she said to go up further and when I arrived at the entrance I found a message for me to walk 40 metres in another direction so I did and could not find the entrance. I was annoyed and grumpy as I couldn’t see anything other than a conference that seemed to be towards expats living in Singapore. I found plenty of other information about the area anyway by looking and even the old Fort gate and the Sally which could be used as a hidden entrance while defending the fort. I was due to meet Dawn at the entrance of the Singapore National museum around 1pm, so at that time i would not have time to enter especially when the Battle box closes for lunch around 12 noon. I did walk to the light house, around the cemetery and down to Raffles bungalow. I even found Singapore national archives and marriage registry.

I met up with Dawn in the National museum and by this time I was hungry and ready to eat anything. We caught a taxi to a shopping centre and ended up going into a Japanese restaurant where the food goes around the tables on a conveyor belt. Dawn pointed out to me what was what and I chose what I wanted. I cant remember everything but i had crab on one, raw salmon, a baby octopus, prawns with fish eggs around them. I did eat plenty of the stuff and did like it as well. I might end up becoming a foodie of some sort. At least I tried something new and when it came time to pay, Dawn was going to pay for this one too but I beat her to it as it was my turn. I was just quicker with the money as she was going to use her card. We wandered around several of the shops getting some food for my dinner and missing the squid sticks. We got tickets for a boat ride I was going onthat Dawn had gotten somehow with a ride on the Singapore Skyline i think it is. Like the London eye but in Singapore. I left Dawn soon after to go on the cruise.

I found the MRT station I had to go to, but also found it was a very long walk underground from the Esplanade station. I was going to the jetty where the boat left from and when I got there i had a 15 minute wait. This was not a full tour, but part of one and I was really happy with it. We went up the river from the river entrance to Clark wharf where we were being told about the sights along the way. There was a statue to Raffle where he first set foot in Singapore and something to do with the British surrender to the Japanese. By this time it was getting dark and was going to rain. I stayed on planning to go back to the Marina Bay centre and a good idea it was as the heavens opened up and it poured. The rain had stopped when I had gotten to the shopping centre. When I wandered through I realised this was the place I had seen a documentary of being built. They had a gondola inside, casino and top of the line shops like Chanel and Armani. During this time it had poured again and I did stop and eat the food that had been gathered for my dinner. I had sat down and put my bag beside me and after 10 mins realised there was running water just behind me. I was very lucky not to put my bag into it. 

I was afterwards looking for the MRT station and couldn’t find it. I asked the concierge people and they told me, but they did not tell me that it was actually closed. I was annoyed and then walked across the bridge to the Singapore Skyline. I ended up doing two laps around the structure trying to find the MRT as I was looking at the sign. I went to the carpark nothing, I walked the first floor and the bottom floor. I looked at my map and I was off the map. I walked towards some streets and looked and found I was going the right way. I found the promenade station and had more problems there. The ticket machine did not want to work as it was a touch screen.  It wouldn’t accept my old card and then it would not take notes. I was pissed and the couple behind heard me swear and walk off. I walked to the other side and tried the machines there. They did work and I found my way home in Little india. When I was back in my room I had a shower and that felt really good. I also found I was sunburnt too and that might be why I was annoyed at myself and had gotten lost. Marina Bay centre was huge and it has its own museum that I did not go to. The Skyline looked awesome at night and i will get up there tomorrow.   

Euro tour day 26 and 27 To Singapore

Euro tour day 26 and 27

The trip to the airport was really easy since I had taken the same route as when I had arrived in Paris although I was dropped off at a different terminal. I was able to check in and get through to the immigration passport stamping without a hitch. I did find that there were plenty of top of the range clothing stores which included Armani and also they were selling caviar too which i had not seen before. This was something new and it must be France that does stuff like this. I would have but I had no idea what I was looking at other than it was pretty pricy. I bought drinks and other things that I needed for my flight.

The flight took around 13 hours and when we landed I panicked a little as I was given a gate number to be at, yet it was on the other side of the terminal where I could not access. I was in the international area where The Terminals 1 to 18 were, but I had been given Y1 and I was told to go through immigration and that was not where I wanted to end up as I could not leave that way. I then asked one of the security people who I then had to follow tyo one of the gates where one of the guys there would help me out. I was told to wait and soon found I was not the only one who was confused and lost especially when one other had the same gate number, but different destination. When my time came I was able to take a very long walk around the terminal to get to the plane that was bound for Singapore. I was the first one on and the plane was hot as in no air con and I was not worried about the extra heating.

I got my first sight of Singapore when I was about to land and that was of all the sips hanging around the country. There was not one or two shipping containers, but over 100 or so and all of different sizes. I knew this was where they mainly parked their ships while waiting for their assignments. Changi airport was huge and I did think it was funny how we parked smack bang between two Qantas jets. One budget airline with the big guns of the air. I was starting to wonder where the immigration desk was as I was walking towards the baggage claim and then I came across what I was looking for. The area was very simple and easy to walk through. I even had a new stamp in my passport with Singapore as my destination and I think this is cool. Waiting outside in the arrivals was the one person i had been talking to for a while and was just about to meet in person. Dawn from Singapore along with another lady through uni, Margie both of whom we talk to nearly all the time. I thought it was pretty funny how I was taller than Dawn and we had breakfast in the airport before sorting through our plans and dropping me off at the hostel to leave my things there. Checkin was not until 12.30 pm and we had 2 hours to kill so went out exploring.

Around this time I was getting tired and we did order Chinese and not like what we got back at home. It was noticed that I was going to crash and very soon. I was wanting to get some sleep. We went back to the hostel and Dawn went home. I actually totally crashed for a few hours and felt better when I got up again. This time I caught the MRT rail to orchard and was getting annoyed when the machine would spit the notes back at me. Seems you can reimburse your card of the booking fee for the ticket. This was around $1. I wandered around Orchard Avenue looking at the pretty lights and then got something to eat. I wandered around the Ion shopping centre and bought some shorts that were superman shorts which I thought was cool. I did learn how to get back to my hostel. The hostel is really basic. The lockers are outside the rooms and I am in mixed dorms.

Euro tour day 25

Euro tour day 25

This time I actually got up early so I could have breakfast and then go off and do some chores before I fly away for the rest of the day. How I got my alarm to work was to hang my passport neck holder through the top bunk railing and place my phone in one of the pouches along with my glasses. I hoped this would work and it did especially when I am going to be leaving early for Singapore the next day.

I had been asked to do something for one of my facebook friends who I had met through my uni studies and the request was for me to take photos of the street I am staying in as the family members may have been who had something to do with naming the street as in being named after them. I was happy to do this as it would take no time at all and i was going to post something home as well. During this time my batteries decided now was the time that they needed to be replaced and I had spares in my hostel as I had bought a big pack in Nuremberg, I ended up posting at least 2 kilos home and with a breakdown in communication on both sides, it was a little expensive, but at least it will get home.

The first place I headed towards on my trip out into the wide world of Paris was to find the catacombs even though they were closed. I actually had trouble finding it even though the location I later found was across the road from where I walked out of the station. I had also found an Australian bar and the bus’s that go to Orly airport. You really do take your life in your hands at times as traffic does not always stop at redlights and on several occasions I felt like I was going to get hit. I am catching the train as they are not held up by traffic. After looking at a closed building that was the entrance to the catacombs and closed on Mondays, I thought I should then head towards Montepassey Cemetery. I got out of the station and looked at the map. I knew where to go and I started walking and started wondering at the same time where the cemetery was and how I could have lost a whole patch of ground that would have been noticeable. Looking across the road I found what I was looking for. I had been looking the wrong way. The cemetery was a really nice walk and I started thinking that i would be known sometime for visiting a cemetery and finding the strange headstones. There was only one person I wanted to find and i did not have a map. I asked one person who spoke perfect English and he told me where to go and I tried the shack that was behind us. The guard was glad to give me one. I found the man who sculpted the Statue of Liberty. I found several others of interest including 4 soldiers who were guillotined. 

After the cemetery I went to find the perfume shops I had looked up before heading out for the day. I had two circled on a map I carried with me. I had two maps one I used exclusively for the metro as I wanted to know where to go. I do not go the same way every time. The station I was to get off at was called Opera and this became a problem. I walked out what i thought was an exit and walked quite far ending up at another part of the station where I could catch the train to Disney land. Not a place I was interested in unless I had another person with me. I was able to go through the barriers as I could not go back the way I had come. I ended up exiting the labyrinth of the metro and popped out to a full on sensory overload in the middle of an island with traffic around me. There was some lovely buildings around that were actually theatres of some sort. I found the street that I was supposed to find after navigating around the crossings. I was looking down one street about to cross when I looked the other way and found the perfume shop directly in front of me across the road. I crossed to the shop and had a wander around inside. The shop was actually busy. I was getting confused over the prices and the size of the bottles and ended up buying a small bottle although this would do as a present.

Afterwards I decided to have a wander and by this time I was getting hungry and was wondering where I could have lunch. I seen a British shop across the road and was going to take a photo when something caught my eye. On the ground was a goldish ring and an elderly lady picked it up and was trying to offer me it for money. I knew this was a Gypsy scam and I just walked away really quickly hoping she would not follow me. I did find an American restaurant that I bought lunch from and it was a pepper steak with chips. A small steak, but a steak is a steak and it fills that hole that needs filling. After my late lunch I walked down the rows of expensive shops and through the Vendrome while looking at designer shops. There was a building last year that I had passed that I wanted to look inside and that was the Madeliene church which was huge on the outside and impressive on the inside, dresses were not allowed amongst several other things and at the time I did not know it was a church at all. I thought I would be nice and put some money in the poor box on my way out.

After the church I took a long wander around where the palaces were as they are now museums. The time was starting to get late and my wanderings took me to all sorts of places including back streets where I found the police patrolled and had several streets blocked off. There was a top of the line restaurant that had a red carpet and a line up just for people to enter. I did not want to walk anywhere near the Eiffel tower and walked to the place where Napoleon is actually buried. The only problem with my plan was that it was then late and I could only get half hour of touring the French armoury of their collection and could not visit the tomb.. By this time I was getting tired of walking and found the metro where I caught the train back to where I was staying as I had some packing to do before I left the next day for Singapore.

Euro tour day 24 Paris and the Louvre

Euro trip day 24

I actually slept in until 8.30 this morning although I had nowhere to put my phone, so it stayed snug inside my jacket. I was stuck on the top bunk. I think I needed the sleep though. I did feel really good though getting up. There was free breakfast and really basic although I think it is just built into the price. Before leaving I wanted to sort things out as to where I wanted to go like one place I knew was the oldest bookshop in the world and since I had a museum pass I wanted to visit the Louvre again.

I figured out which station to get out on and I was happy to have a map so I knew where to go. I jumped out of the station alright and did not realise I had gotten lost and was not heading towards the Notre Dame. I did find something I was not looking for and was actually on the museum pass. This was an awesome building called the Pantheon. It was huge on the outside and when i entered I found it was actually impressive on the inside. The crypt was actually interesting although the only problem I did have was that I cant read French, but it is close enough to English that it is easy to get a general gist of what it is. I did find the Curies were in the crypt and the guy who invented Braille too. There were effigies and other things around the building including a pendulum that gives the accurate time and was part of a scientific thing around the 1700s to say the earth revolved around the sun.

After that I wandered up the road still going the wrong way and found another place that had my interest. It was a park called Luxumbourg, which has a palace of the same name. This place is supposed to THE place to go for the local Parisians so I had read. It was a nice sunny day and at the time I had thought I lost my map which had the streets on it. I had a spare map in my bag and it was later I had found the original map in my jeans pocket. It was strange I had checked them and was not there. After the park, I wandered in another direction and found I was passing some places that were familiar. One of the museums that I had passed earlier made me wonder what it exactly was, so I had a quick look at Musee de Cluny – musee national du Moyen age. It was interesting although it was basically a ruined church; it did not interest me that much at all so I walked off. When I looked and found I was now going in the right direction. On my way I stopped to have lunch and wandered through alleys that were all restaurants. No one tried pulling me in or annoying me to eat there.

I appeared out on the street within sight of the Notre Dame and was not sure how I could look for a shop that was so close to the footpath so I crossed the road on the river side and looked for what I wanted. I found the Shakespeare and company store and it did stick out like a sore thumb. I crossed the road and entered just to have a look. I decided that I liked the book about the life of Charles De Gaulle. I asked about H.P Lovecraft and was shown that they had some. I couldn’t see them before and I bought myself some books for my trip home. I ended up wandering some more through the Latin Quarter and found comic book stores. I do want to go back just to see if they are in French or English.

The wandering around left me wanting to spend the rest of my day at the Louvre, so I caught a train to the location. I ended up spending a long time in the museum and it was not until they closed that I finally left. I did not have a map or anything and just wandered around to see where I would end up. I found plenty of interesting things. Sure I passed Mona Lisa and the only thing I thought others would be interested in was the security in place around her. I did find sculptures and even rooms set out as Napoleon III rooms although I do not know if the furniture was actually from there or was elsewhere. There were also rooms of objects that were from several kinds that were around. I was during this time getting sore and tired after a long day on my feet. I was actually enjoying myself that I was wandering around the galleries as last time I was there I was basically running as I was trying to get everything into my trip that I could. This time I was around there for at least 3 or more hours.

When the museum closed it was actually getting dark. I did like how the staff kicked you out. The lobby was not light up and so everyone was leaving in semi darkness. I wandered to where I was going to catch the train back to the hostel and I did not feel like walking towards the Eiffel Tower with it being all light up. I had a shower and then went looking for food. I ordered Steak Tartare and it looked like mince and it was a little coldish. I was not too fussy as it was food and goes down the same way like everything else.

Euro tour day 23 Annoyance in Berlin

Euro trip day 23

I got up half hour earlier than i was expecting as my room mate rocked up at 5.30 am. I thought this was the time I should get up as I would not sleep for half hour. I got up and checked out down stairs which I waited so I could get a bus to the zoo gardens where the train would get me to the airport.

Arriving at the train station I was well and truely stumped by a ticket machine that I spent 20 mins trying to work out. I was going to wait until 8am for when the ticket office opened. After around the 5^th go I was able to get a ticket. I wont be able to reproduce this again as I still am not sure how I got it. The machine had English, so i was able to figure things out eventually. I think it is because airport is a different word in German. When I was on the train the lady looked at my ticket and did say that it was the right one although it cost me 3 euro. I thought this was too little, but not complaining. I was able to get to the airport and it was a nice walk from the train to the actual airport itself. I had half hour before I could check in and I found food during that time. I checked in, but the lady told me the bag was not allowed on the travel thing behind her and to take it to another point, so I did and it went through. I did find spiderman and Thor comics in German and this would be the best way to learn as I have a copy of one already in English. I changed some ringit to Euro and ended up with around 30 euro from 160 ringit. The poor lady had to look it up in her book on money as she never seen it before.

The trip to Paris was a nice plane ride although I did more reading than anything else. Getting on Easy jet was interesting as you just chose the seat you wanted to sit in and mine was a window seat that had me direct in the sun. When I landed I got distracted and lost at Orly airport where I eventually found the baggage hall. It was lucky as the bags had not gone through by that time. The trip to the city of Paris was interesting and I did find that I am lost if I do not have a rail map, so I can jump on and off the trains. I did find that the hostel wont let you in before 4pm and i had arrived just after 2pm.

After checking in and getting lost trying to find the place where I had to pick up my tickets for the museum tour, I went to a show that I had booked in Paris. Getting lost even though i had directions and everything. I blame the metro tunnels. This show was Dracula spectactla. It was spectacular alright and they used the whole stage and even running around amongst the audience. I enjoyed it even though I did not know what they were saying as it was all French. There were dancers everywhere including a one legged dancer who used crutches and was actually part of the story too. I had missed dinner as I had been doing other things and ended up eating before midnight. A quick bite at the good old maccas.