Our three days in Singapore brought us to the end of our holiday & we spent our time doing some of our favorite things. Shopping took up some of our visit with a trip to Bugis Junction & the great BHG store where Geoff bought socks!!!!!!! We moved on to lunch in Haji Lane in the Arab Quarter where we'd been before for some Singaporean Mexican guacamole which was made in front of us with a mortar & pestle - very cool. Went to visit Mr Dilip at Dilip Te...

Shopping day in Dubai with a forecast temperature of around 40 degrees so we travelled by taxi & train to stay out of the sun. Visited the Gold Souk where we were the "first customers of the day" & made a couple of purchases from a store where they didn't hassle us - a nice change. Took the very efficient train to the Dubai Mall which was more crowded this visit as today was the public holiday of Eid to mark the end of Ramadan & lots of families were ...

Last day in Paris & the end of our European sojourn - at least for a while! Today we did a few less touristy things for a completely different view of Paris. First stop was the very interesting Pere Lachaise Cemetery where many famous people are buried. The place itself is huge & has blocks of memorials divide by lovely cobbled, tree lined paths. It was very peaceful in the morning without many people about so we bought a map & wandered around to loca...

The day finally arrived for the final stage of the Tour de France & we were in Paris!!!!!!! This was an almost "out of this world" happening for me as it evolved by accident & good fortune that we would be there this day. We have followed the Tour each year since SBS started to televise each stage highlights in the late 80's. As they showed longer stages over the years our interest has grown too & I became enraptured with the chess game that is profes...

Three days in Paris were the perfect ending to our European experience. We spent one day doing traditional tourist sightseeing, one at the finish of Le Tour de France & one doing less well-known activities in Paris. Our taxi ride from St Lazare railway station took us around the very exciting traffic of the Arc de Triomphe where there are 12 lanes but no marked lines & apparently all car insurance is void! Had dinner at La Petit Cour restaurant where we h...