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A rainy day in Westport – has been a few dry weeks so mustn’t complain! This post is coming from Flock – first time on this blog.

After our brief travels, we reached a few conclusions about MUST SEE places: Best modern art museum = Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Best artifact museum = Musée du quai Branly in Paris. Most accessible viewing/refreshment/display art museum= SFMOMA in San Francisco. Best and biggest new/used bookshop in the world = Powell’s City of Books in Portland. Best alcohol = MacGuires house stout in Dublin. Best restaurant = The Witchery in Edinburgh. Best sushi= Arcata Hotel in Nthn California. Best bar food = Ha! Ha! Bar in Windsor Station. Most exhausting shopping mecca = Singapores’ Orchard Rd. Most fascinating shopping mecca = Camden Town in London. Best train transport system = Singapore MRT. Smoothest, most comfortable train system = eurostar but it is far cheaper and more interesting to go by almost any other method of transport. Most desirable shopping place not frequented = Montmartre in Paris. Best Airline = Singapore Airlines followed by service we received on Air NZ. Best Hotel rooms = Edinburgh’s Old Waverley followed by refurbished Best Western Plaza in Dublin. One final comment about travelling in the off season – this is to be recommended. During peak seasons overseas, which usually coincide with best weather patterns, travel and sightseeing require huge patience. We had cooler weather overall but no queuing (except for Madame Tussauds) and often could view artworks with no one obscuring our vision (except the Mona Lisa which we avoided). Prices for accommodation are less, service is better because there are fewer people demanding them, and you have better choices e.g. we always managed to get front seats on the tour buses up the top which were not crowded. So even though you might leave 30 degrees of summer behind as we did, it was so much more pleasant travelling to the other side of the world unimpeded by the tourist stampede which has marred other traveller’s enjoyment.

Had a scratchy day in Singapore – the sweaty humidity didn’t help and I guess that’s why people go there to shop – the malls have air con. and it’s a relief from outside. Took some food pix for James who would love the look of all the unmentionable ingredients in Japanese desserts. We went for a melting walk to the beach and wondered why 4 million+ people wouldn’t be down there by the water. As we were leaving we saw a sign saying “No trespass on the Beach area”(they are busy building luxury apartments). Walked through Raffles Hotel but did not have a Singapore Sling until we got on the plane – it was very sweet but the more we drank, the better it tasted. Loved Singapore Airport – live Carp in pools, live music, lots of food places many selling trad. tucker, largest plasma TV in world with speakers in the seats, lounging chairs, comfty book reading chairs you can curl up in…almost a shame to leave…but life is more than shopping.

Josie picked us up at airport and left me to collapse at Liz and Dons while Pete visited dentist (he broke a well-filled tooth crunching candied almonds from Harrods, as your jet setting traveller does..). We’re off to see Louis and Jo before the trip back to the Coast – must say that we’re both looking forward to getting stuck into 2008. Will post last photos and sign off. Love to all, thanks for your comments and good wishes, Pete & Ruth XX

We’re at the beautiful new Terminal 3 – where the internet is FREE. Will be back on home soil in 12 hours – see some of you then…

Negotiated our third underground train system and went out to this acclaimed bird park today. Typically of Singapore, train tickets are thick plastic things you pay $1 for in a vending machine, which is refunded when you replace it in machine at the end of your trip – no used paper tickets everywhere à la London or Paris. Weather a bit dodgy but our avian friends didn’t mind and the shows there were amazing.

We learned a few things this avo about 7 types of pelicans, only the smallest Brown pelicans dive for food – the Dalmatian ones have hair which gets curlier as they get older on top of their heads (I can truly relate to that) and they have the longest wing span etc etc. This park was well recommended by Gar (Pete’s Dad) who visited in the late ’80s.

Maybe it was the Dalmatian pelicans who gave me the idea but I spent the early evening in the hair dressers getting my unruly mop into line – there comes a time when you get tired of having to go to bed with a topnot and the weight of it all was pulling hair off the top of my head. I’d rather have it cut off than having it all pulled out anyway! I loved the Singapore honesty – “Can I have a long wispy fringe just parted to one side?” – Hairdresser (who has been cutting hair for 7 yrs but still looks about 10yrs old) replies, “No, you can’t, you have curly hair and it’s just not possible and will just bulk it up and make it big and messy!” He never wavered and never once said “maybe, or possibly” as Kiwis do to soften the blow.

Travel chaos greeted us at Heathrow (no surprises there) as rain and wind had given some airlines an excuse to cancel flights. Ours was OK but delayed, we boarded 20 min late, doors were closed, then Captain announced something in German which made most passengers groan: turned out we’d missed our air traffic ’slot’ and would have to stay ‘parked’ at the gate for 2 hours..! 15 min later the Captains update said it might only be 45 min: we actually got going only 35 min late. It seems Lufthansa like to give you the worst possible scenario first, so you’re grateful when it’s not as bad – good psychology I guess. Arrived in Singapore 11 and1/2 hours later in a cloud of spray as Lufthansa 747 swept through the tropical rain.

We walked round the block first and sussed out where shopping plazas were and ate many unmentionable dishes (dessert was Ito- green tea icecream with red bean sauce and baked, tempura sweet potato cake) at a Japanese restaurant for dinner- we like to challenge our stomachs constantly. Pete organised internet in Hotel and I was amused as the jet lag took him over and he was nodding at the keyboard… Brekky this morning was weirdly Japanese – 1,000 year old eggs, dk grey noodles, boiled pork strips, yam cakes, bean curd with grated ginger on top, and I’ll have to stop there cos we have a big day out planned.

We crammed in The Tate Britain gallery, The National Portrait gallery and another buying mission in Camden Town. Camden Town is quite a different animal at night and I glued myself to Pete’s hand as we bought another bag to accommodate our accumulations.

Then on to a most memorable last night in London. Mark Gallagher (this was a great suggestion from him), Katopua, Ruth and I got late tickets from a tout outside the theatre for 20 quid (the cheapest stalls were 31 pound) and were treated to a fabulous 90 minutes of kd lang (no capitals in her name, Pete corrects me) and a wildly appreciative audience. We waited at a Hammersmith pub near the Apollo theatre and most of the women were stoutish with short haircuts (wonder what they were…). One woman opposite us got annoyed with 2 diminutive gay men who had draped themselves over a leather seat designed to seat 6. Fired with indignation, our woman announced in a broad Scot’s accent, ” I’m a union delegate, I take no prisoners and I’ll move them!” and she did indeed.

Bliss, a day off to feed swans, do laundry, and stroll through the genteel villages of Eton and Windsor (these villages are annoyed that they share postcode with unsavoury neighbour Slough – understandable with a name like that!).

Monday we shopped in Camden Town, had a late lunch in Harrods (”Best chicken soup in Britain” said the sign – we agreed), then went to Leicester Square and saw Sweeney Todd amazing and shockingly gory!

Tuesday we joined cousin Chris Foley and Joanna on the Original London Tour – company Chris works for. Quite a cold experience atop the open bus that put us truly in touch with London, and allowed us to make sense of all the places we’d visited via tube.

Highlight was getting onto the river cruise (a warmer experience too!). The boat had a greyish tinge to the windows so the day wasn’t as dull as this. Recommend this experience because the boat goes to places you can’t ordinarily see.

We got off the boat at Greenwich so to tour the Maritime museum. We saw crocus and daffy bulbs outside the Trinity College of Music housed in a palace which was formerly the ex-Naval Academy. Again, we needed many more hours in the Maritime Museum- their collection of carved ship’s figure heads are wonderful. It was also interesting seeing displays of cruise ships which were converted to passenger transport for the thousands of immigrants fleeing Britain after the war.

We chugged back to London and had our last night-time views of Big Ben, The Eye and the Houses of Parliament that looked a bit like an ancient luxury liner on the water’s edge. Unfortunately we didn’t have a bright day to see the view from the Eye. I imagine that on the overcast sky, it would be a bit like looking through a cataract.

Last day in Paris and we felt we had to see Louvre which we found didn’t interest us as much as d’Orsay had, as that housed our favourite late 19th – 20thC artworks. It was also tiring business doing “speed dating/viewing” of artworks in such a huge palace.

We found that with a place like the Louvre, get a layout plan and set about seeking out only the works you really want to see, to help visitors pick and choose the musée plan is dotted with highlights, although the place is so vast and complex just interpreting the map takes 30 min! No offence to the Egyptians but there seems to be great vaults of Egyptology overwhelming galleries and museums all over the world- It’s only because the pyramids were too big to transport that they’re not here too!

The cuzzy photo above was taken on our last morning, Coya just recovering from jet-lag and tummy-bug, Peter just getting a cold..! It was lovely to finally meet Coya and to be able to stay so centrally in Paris was wonderful. This is a city that can’t be digested in 4 days and we still have things to see – we’ll be back!

On eurostar we met a Kiwi woman now in Melbourne who describes herself as a ‘dance-maker’, also a young woman from Marseille working in London. We conversed about language, politics, relationships… as you do. Trip was over before we knew it, followed Saturday crowds in King’s Cross to the tube, then to Waterloo and back to Windsor by 8 pm. All those evocative names are becoming everyday to us now.

Managed an early start on Vendredi (Fri), walked via Les Invalides and the Parc du Champs de Mars (loosely means “field for military training”) which spectacularly ends in THAT tower, and just round the corner was the new museum of indigenous art that we’d been keen to see since Ruth read of its existence.

No photos in the Branly, but what a spectacular space. You enter via a winding ramp which at its upper end changes to a curvy, organic-like shape covered in natural hide. There are few straight lines in the whole place and amazing glass cabinets in which you can view the contents from all sides. I was keen to see the ceiling which were decorated by aboriginal artists, including Tommy Watson from Wingellina.

Musée d’Orsay is THE gallery, and Musée du quai Branly is the best museum we’ve ever seen – in environment, display, philosophy, information, etc…

Just past the metro station on Bde Raspail was the Open Tour bus stop, which we caught to get a wider appreciation of Paris sights (and at times, our death of cold) – some pictured above.

This gallery was on our tour and the first place we chose to explore, good choice! Musée d’Orsay houses most of the recent (20th C – present) artwork in Paris (the Louvre goes up to end of 19th C) and we saw many favourites. It was amazing to discover you’re able to photograph in French galleries, though no flash. Having spent much time last year studying Van Gogh’s painting of his room in the asylum with junior art students, it was thrilling to be standing up close and personal with the real work. The bronze ballerina had a really fragile tutu on and a poignant expression on her face – charming. The Monets that we saw were not the large, late ones I am absolutely besotted with but they are very good and show evidence of his wonderfully intense purple/blues.

Oh! what can you say when you bask in the light of something that you’ve always wanted to see.. d’Orsay is stunning – modern, has a great collection of the C19th /C20th art works which is the period I admire most. All the artworks are well set out and accessible and it was a more enjoyable experience to the the Louvre which proved vast, hard floored, confusing and English interpretation very lacking on the plaques. I know that English audio sets are available but when you’re stretched for time and only want to see particular works, following the audio set can be time consuming and constraining.

The opulent reception room was where Petey got reprimanded for taking a photo using a statue’s plinth to position the camera. The female guard also felt that a lecture was necessary..

The Orsay has so many stunning works and the Art Nouveau collection is amazing – what I would give for some of that furniture. Pete got to see some of the favourite paintings that he studied in Art History at Uni – many of them include unclad females…

Kat got us up at sparrow fart to catch a bus to Heathrow then the tube direct to King’s Cross (next to St Pancras – eurostar depot). We experienced our first nose-in-armpit rush hour tube trip but survived, and soon we were speeding to Paris in backwards-facing First Class seats (courtesy of Kat’s connections) -just over 2 hours from St Pancras Station to Gare du Nord. It was like flying without wings, our ears kept popping as we ripped into tunnels at 300k! The offer of champagne did not sit well with my slightly hungover head, but the food was nice…

From Gare du Nord I phoned to check someone was home before we braved le metro – Coya was pleased to hear from us and repeated directions, I bravely purchased a ticket and spoke my first “merci”, then we were on our way to Boulevard Raspail. The metro station is about 60 metres from Peter and Coya’s apartment block door, there were a few glitches getting through first the iron gate, then the inner door and then up 4 flights to their apartment, but we made it. After a short while getting to know each other, we were keen to get out on the streets so, with advice from Coya we walked off towards Île de la Cité (home of Notre Dame), passing through picturesque boulevards and Les Jardins du Luxembourg (see fountain pic).

My first impression of Paris is that it is truly a romantic city – lovers everywhere sucking each others faces flat out (Pete thinks I have a beautiful turn of phrase) but it is saved from total perfection because of flaws, many of which must be negotiated on the streets, on footpaths, round trees, in gutters etc. I’m talking about dog faeces of course! Imagine twice a day – morning and evening thousands of canines emerging from their cooped up apartments onto all the streets to ‘toilette’ on Paris…nice…

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