After a birthday breakfast for me at home, Sophie and Charlotte caught the bus to school, Shannon drove off to work and Jess came with us to Springwood station where we caught the train to the airport. After lengthy checking in, immigration and customs procedures we did a bit of duty free shopping and then made our Business Class lounge where we could relax with champagne, juices, spirits, nuts, cheese, muffins etc. What bliss!! When boarding commenced, it was ...

On Wednesday April 18th at 10.45am we departed Opera on a coach, arrived at CDG at 11.30am. Departed CDG 3.30pm, arrived Dubai 10.10pm. Departed Dubai 6.15am Thursday 19th April, arrived at Singapore at 1.10pm. Departed Singapore 3.10pm, arrived Sydney 10.30pm. 36 hours!!! Awful.

Well, today didn't really go as we planned. We walked down to Gare St Lazare and found we had missed the morning's only fast train and had to wait over an hour for the slow train to Vernon. We eventually got out there and arrived at Giverny at about 1pm. We wandered through Monet's home, left/restored just as it was. It amazed us that the back wall of the house formed part of the wall along the road in the village. The gardens were stunning - the tulips beautif...

Slept in today and found breakfast very crowded. We wandered down to the Department store - it's closed for Easter, so we withdrew some cash and waited at the tour office. The tour was good - took us by the all the above listed places, and more!!! The Place du Pantheon is where Marie Curie and other famous people are buried. We finished at the Eiffel Tower where we were given tickets for the tower and our Bateaux Parisiens tickets for the river cruise. The Ei...