Out and About in Dublin

 We have had a mixed bag with weather but it hasn't stopped us doing stuff. The weather has been colder than home! One of the top things on our list was to head to Trinity College and use a "buy one coffee get one free" voucher that was left over from Mike and Leeanne's visit to the Book of Kells. We had to make Bill proud! So we checked out Trinity College

Went down to the Perch Cafe and Amy brought a coffee and I got a free hot chocolate! It was a nice warm place to sit and see all the students hanging out.

Then we headed out into Dublin City, checked out the Liffey River

Wandered through the Temple Bar area and thought this shop would be a good one for Bill

Walked over the Halfpenny Bridge

The next morning the weather wasn't quite so good, we headed out to catch the bus and needed all our warm clothes and rain jackets.

We decided an indoor venue might be the best alternative with rain beginning to fall so we headed to the Guinness Storehouse to do the tour. Even though I don't drink it was an interesting place to visit. They use barley and roast it and that gave off a lovely fragrance.

It was interesting watching the footage of how the coopers used to make the barrels for the beer. It is a dying art as they now use metal barrels.

Amy in the tasting room- I had to take one as well so she could have two tasting glasses.

Afterwards we something to eat in the bar along with our free drink. I tried a non alcoholic beer and decided I had no chance of becoming a beer drinker. Amy had it and really liked it!

Then we headed over to Trinity College and did the tour with one of the students, went in to see the Book of Kells and into the Long Room which is a most impressive library.

Singapore Style

We have enjoyed our stopover in Singapore we could easily come back again and spend some more time here.

We had to try some Singapore Carrot Cake- a savoury dish. It is made with white radish which is like a white carrot. If you have white carrot cake it is an omelette style and if you have black carrot cake it is chopped and fried with kecap manis- it was rather tasty. We decided not to try the frog porridge though.

When Bill and I were in Singapore in 2012 we stayed in the same hotel. There was a little ice cream van down on the bridge selling ice cream wafers for $1 which Bill thought was a bargain, so we had to go see if you could still get them. You could but they had gone up to $1.50 so we just shared one!

Amy wanted to try a Singapore Sling.We read that the Long Bar at Raffles uses a pre mix so we ended up at the bar at our hotel where she was able to sit at the bar and watch the bartender mix it for her. Amy was most impressed with her cocktail.

Voting at the Australian Embassy

The Australian General Election is being held while we are away on the 18th May. My brother and sister in law were manning the voting at the Australian Embassy so Amy and I decided we would vote at the Australian Embassy- not very often we would have the opportunity to do something like this.

Signing in to vote

With the issuing officer- my sister in law- Bindi

 Supervising officer- my brother Simon- can't remember what his official title was!

We got to sign the kangaroos after we had voted!

Singapore to London to Dublin

Long flight to London but survived, we had a couple of hours before  our flight to Dublin so we had breakfast at Heston Blumenthal's Cafe Perfection. It was very nice and also a quiet place to chill out after a long flight.

Amy and I laughed at the crazy Irish getting on the Dublin flight, it was just so disorganized! Arrived at Simon and Bindi's and showered and had a snooze before heading out to explore a bit of Dublin and keep awake for as long as we could.  We checked out St Stephen's Green and then wandered down Grafton Street and took in some of the sights.

 St Stephen's park is lovely to wander around, so lovely and green.

Dublin has lovely painted doors.

The obligatory Molly Malone photo.

River Safari and Raffles

Sunday we headed out to the River Safari. It was a park based on the major rivers of the world and the animals and fish you would find around those rivers. It was well set  out and easy to wander around. Not too busy and mainly had covered walkways to walk under with fans blowing so we managed to keep reasonably cool.

From the River Safari we headed back into the city and checked out  the Raffles Hotel and then went over to the shopping centre  where we found a supermarket where we just checked out all the groceries. Anyone for Snow Fungus?

Amy on the marble steps at Raffles with her Macaw back pack.

                                          Couldn't believe the sushi selection available.

We then walked back to our hotel on Clarke Quay. Then it was time to pack up, check out and head to the airport for our flight to Dublin via Heathrow.

Jurong Bird Park

On today's agenda was the Jurong Bird Park. Amy was in her element being surrounded by all the birds. We watched penguins being fed, watched a bird show, feed the lorikeets at the Lory Loft where Amy had birds on her head and shoulders most of the time. We had "Lunch with the Birds" which involved a rather ordinary buffet lunch but that was okay as we got a front row table for the bird show for about 40 people which was lots of fun.

Amy brought a painting from Pikasso the Australian Sulphur Cockatoo, who put on a painting display. Lots of fun and lots of birds!

Penguins at Jurong Bird Park

Amy feeding the Lorikeets. We had to come back again later in the day for Amy to spend a bit more time with the birds.

One of the Scarlet Macaws at our "Lunch with the Birds"

Peanut the Macaw along with Amy and myself!

Amy purchased a Pikasso painting! Pikasso was the sulphur crested cockatoo who had a little easel during the show and painted a picture.

Some of the American Flamingos

European Adventure Begins May 2019

After 6 months of planning, Amy and I have left Australian shores and are on our way to Europe . We are spending 2 weeks in Ireland and 2 weeks in France with a stop over in Singapore for three nights. We flew out of Canberra on Thursday night, Canberra to Singapore- nice and easy. We arrived in Singapore about 5:30 am and were quickly and efficiently through Immigration and Customs and after catching a taxi were out our hotel- the Swissotel Merchant Court by 6:30 am. Check in was at 3 3 pm but fortunately they had a room available for us which was so good. Snooze , shower and breakfast and then we went for an explore down to Gardens by the Bay.

Waterfall at the entrance to the Cloud Forest Dome

Some of the amazing trees we saw in both domes

Don't know what these flowers were but they looked lovely

Cool trees

 Amy in Aloe Land

Amy and the $1.50 ice-cream sandwich- they were $1 when Bill and I went in 2012!



Amy enjoying her Singapore Sling