New Year Celebration at Marina

Christmas at Orchard Road

Home sweet home

Living area






Here lives my two little fish and a turtle called Ninja.

Dining area



Bedroom






Walk-in wardrobe

Work and play room







Kitchen area











Shower room

Summary of the trip

Countries visited:
France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican, San Marino, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland

Languages learnt:
French, Italian, German, and Dutch

Currencies used:
Euro and Swiss Franc

Total pictures taken:
3,000+

Local foods tried:
France: Baguette, croissant, Lyonnaise salad
Monaco: Kir
Italy: Pizza, pasta, lasagna, panini, gelato
Austria: Chicken and beef schnitzel, apple strudel, sachertorte, goulash soup, schnapps
Germany: Sausages, pork knuckles, black forest cake
Holland: croquettes, smoked ham, spekulaas

Day 24: Paris (France) - Doha (Qatar) - Singapore

Charles de Gaulle airport was really crowded at this time. We didn't have much time left and still need to claim a tax refund. We asked the girl at the counter to give us the last row seats on the plane. The girl said there were no more seats at the tail, it was fully booked. So we just received the boarding passes without saying anything. I took a glance to find out the boarding time, then I noticed a word "Business" class at the corner. Was it for real? Hmm.. I better not to be happy too soon.

Then we queued for the custom stamp, it was really a very long queue and it was so slow. And then we also had to queue again to get the refund. I didn't think we have enough time. I heard people around me said that Paris had the worst service, other places like Rome was not so bad. So we just queued for the stamp and then have to run to catch the flight. I found out that we could get the refund in Singapore as long as we had the custom stamp.

We boarded the plane, I just realised that my seat number was really small and I felt so excited. I couldn't believe it, our seats were in business class section. The seat was much bigger as well as the tv, and there were buttons to position each section of the seat. It had a massage function too, we could either choose shoulder, back, or lower back massage. Only could activate one area at a time.

For the welcome drink, there were choices of wines, champagne, liquor or cocktails. For the main meal, I had a lobster salad for the appetiser, followed by a chicken with some gravy, and some cakes. The lobster was nice, but the chicken was very dry. Afterwards, they served cheese platter with crackers. The meal was laid nicely on a white napkin cloth with branded WMF cutleries complete with a small porcelain bottles of salt and pepper. No more paper napkins and those salt and pepper packets!! It was then finished with a box of Godiva chocolates for everyone.

It was time to catch some sleep, I didn't turn on the tv at all, that could wait for the next leg. I didn't think we would be so lucky to get an upgrade from Doha to Singapore. The seat was really comfortable, six hours of flight passed really fast, and I didn't feel tired at all!!

The next 8 hours journey from Doha was not so comfortable anymore. The flight was really full, and it felt worse after I experienced the better ones. But I was still lucky to endure 8 hours instead of 14 hours. Going home was not so bad after all..

Summary >>

Day 23: Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Paris (France)

It was time to say goodbye to the rest of people. The Contiki 21-days had been completed and we were leaving Amsterdam for Paris by train. The Thalys was exactly on time, arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station at 9.10 am and left 5 minutes later. This train was very very fast, I think it should be running about 200 km/h. And it was very comfortable even though I was only sitting in the economy class. It took 4 hours to reach Paris.


Amsterdam Centraal Station


Thalys train

The train stopped at Paris Gare du Nord, and from there we took a metro to our hotel at Montmartre area.


Moulin Rouge during day time


Moulin Rouge at night

Sacre Cour is located at the top of the hill nearby Montmartre area. We walked up 290 steps to reach there. Besides climbing up the steps, there is a funicular that goes straight up to the church.


Sacre Cour

Maxim's


The most expensive restaurant in Paris.


Next to it is Minim's, the cheap version.

Pont Alexander III


It's the most decorated bridge in Paris



Hotel des Invalides


Formerly an accommodation for disabled and wounded soldiers.

Next, we had an evening boat trip along the Seine river that passed the Louvre, D'Orsay museum, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame cathedral. It really brought back the memory of our first day here.


Paris version of Statue of Liberty

That was the end of our Europe trip. Even though we had travelled for more than three weeks, it didn't feel enough... :P I felt so sad that we had to go back home and face the reality. It was time to be a slave again to the job...

Day 24 >>