Singapore, our final stopover

We planned this stopover to try and minimise the jet lag but weren't sure how much we really wanted to spend 3 nights in Singapore. Past experiences haven't been startling. However, we've had a wonderful time. Perhaps we've become more familiar with Asia then we realised! We've enjoyed the warmth, the reasonable prices, the lush greenery and the flowers. 

Haere mai, everything is ka pai! Our friends Jacqui and Lester Stephens. They moved to Singapore this year and are teaching at the Australian International School here. Pam and Lester taught together at Selwyn Ridge. Great to catch up with them and their children Holly and Reuben. Thanks for the wonderful kai guys! 

At the Orchid House in the Botanic Gardens. We spent all day in the Gardens. 

The Merlion, symbol of Singapore. 

This boardwalk is along the edge of the MacRitchie Reservior, one of Singapore's main water catchments. Lovely forest. 

Came across this mum and tiny baby. Bub is only about 15 cm long. 

The whole city is planted, even in out of the way places like this that would otherwise be concrete wastelands. 

Sundowners at the open air bar at the top of the Marina Bay Sands, a very glitzy new development south of the Singapore CBD. Beca Singapore had something to do with the design and construction. The price of the drinks is beyond description however we had several. 

The night lights of Singapore from the top of Marina Bay Sands. 

We chanced on this really good local food court not far from Marina Bay Sands. Pam and I had a great 2 course meal for less than the price of one drink at the top! 

Tani family in Helsinki

Helsinki is our last major stop over. We are here to stay with our friends Petri and Pirjo Tani. Andrew met Petri in Kawerau in 1985 and they've been friends ever since. Since then this is our fourth visit to Finland and hopefully not our last. Their two boys Kuutti and Santeri now speak wonderful English ( as well as German and Swedish and Finnish of course ) and it was a treat to be able to chat to them.

Catching up with Petri and Pirjo at a Helsinki bar.

We spent a weekend at their summer house and were the official guests at the 'International' opening of their new sauna house. Andrew enjoying the lake view from the new sauna house.

Drinks with Toto the dog to celebrate the official international opening. 

We had a productive morning gathering blue berries in the forest. First they needed to be cleaned then.......

Made into the most delicious blue berry pie; 'mustikka piraka'!

Pirjo and I being silly in the lake after sauna. We wore our swim suits, not like others in the group!

On our last evening in Helsinki we had a real treat. The summer music festival was on, so we went into the city to enjoy a musical feast. Opera in the Ateneum, a chamber orchestra playing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven and finally a wonderful choir singing in the beautiful Helsinki cathedral, above.  

Didn't go to any event here but just loved this Russian Orthodox Church, the Uspenski Cathedral. 

The Helsinki Cathedral at the end of the evening. A beautiful way to say goodbye till the next time. 

Day trip to Tallinn

Sitting here in this space age bar and can't quite believe we're on a ship. This is the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki. The glass is basically the front of the ship. Feels like we're on the USS Enterprise and just about to hit warp speed. Pam is wearing grey, just behind the guy in red. 

We've spent the day in Tallinn, capital of Estonia, couple of hours sail from Helsinki. Used to be part of USSR until 1991. The only country in the world that speaks a language anything like Finnish. 

The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. A mixture of wide streets....

... and little walkways...

... some humongous churches ...

....and Disney-like towers.

It's an old walled town built in the 12th and 13th centuries and like many others it was fortified with a wall around the whole place. 

It's very picturesque and something like 9 million tourists visit every year. 

Bikes, canals, tall ships, Lego and Fairy Tales

Our flight from Edinburgh to Helsinki went via Copenhagen. We decided to lengthen the stop over and stayed a couple of days.

Neither of us had realised Copenhagen was such a watery city with canals and water ways everywhere. We were also intrigued by the number of bicycles on the street. People on bikes of all sorts of shapes and sizes thronged the street. Fairy tales, tall ships, beautiful old buildings and the Danish royal family were other points of interest. Our two days whizzed by before we knew it but not before we had spent a lot of money! We were amazed and horrified at the prices in the Euro zone.

The beautiful Little Mermaid from Hans Christian Anderson's famous fairy tale.

Nyhavn canal, near our hotel. Why wouldn't you love a city that looks like this?

Nyhavn again but in Lego this time. Look at the left side of the previous photo. This was in the Lego shop in the Main Street in the Lego capital of the World. 

Bikes were every where. All sorts, shapes and sizes; bikes to carry groceries, children, boxes, trikes with arm chairs on the front to carry girlfriends or trailers on the back for babies. It really was amazing. It helps that the city is almost dead flat.

We went on a canal boat tour. Some of the bridges were very low. Andrew was almost beheaded a couple of times. 

The wonderful storyteller himself, Hans Christian Anderson.

The changing of the guard at the royal palace.

We climbed the 400 hundred steps to the top of Our Saviours church spire and got a marvellous if a little scary view of the city. It was very narrow and windy at the top. We saw that that night there was going to be a free concert at the church so along we went. We were treated to a musical feast; a soprano and organist performing various classic works including Mozart's Exultate Jubilate, Wagner's  Albumblatt and finishing off with Nessun Dorma, what a treat. 

The magnificent church organ built in 1698. The whole thing is around 15 m wide and high. We did feel sorry for the poor elephants who have been holding the organ up for over 300 hundred years! Maybe that's why there are looking a little stunted. 

Edinburgh with Jo and Roger

After the Lake District we drove north to Scotland. I was quite excited passing through Gretna Green but it is not quite as exciting if you are not running away to get married.  

Roger is involved with building the new bridge over the Firth of Forth and they are living almost directly below the construction site. As we drove into Edinburgh we took a bearing on the bridge and arrived at Jo and Rogers lovely old stone cottage no trouble. It was a real treat to spend time with them, relaxing, fun, like being at home. Jo's dad, Jim was also there. He is hale and hearty at 90 years and wonderful company. 

We met up with Wilson on a couple of days. He is an ex exchange teacher who was in NZ with Lynette in '87. He is very knowledgeable about all things Scottish (and a good deal else besides) and kindly volunteered to take us out and about to explore the city and surrounds.

The Edinburgh Featival was on while we were there. What a wonderful coincidence, it has seemed on this trip we have just missed on lots of other concerts, tours, festivals etc. If there was just one we would have liked to have made, this was it. Jo booked tickets for all of us to the Tattoo and Andrew and I were lucky enough to get to three other Fringe events. The festival is enormous, mind bogglingly huge and trying to decide what to see is almost impossible. Plus the city is just packed with people.

The gates to Hollyrood House, the Queen's residence in Edinburgh. Andrew liked the wrought iron work. 

Wilson pointing out some of the sights of Edinburgh. The brown hump mid left, on horizon, is Edinburgh Castle.

The Forth rail bridge, taken not far from Jo's place.

Beautiful St Margaret's Chapel inside Edinburgh Castle walls. The Chapel was was built in the 1100s and is the oldest building in Edinburgh. 

Edinburgh Castle was pretty grim from the outside. Mind you it was a gloomy day.

Things were a bit brighter inside the place. Above is a photo taken in the grand hall and below one of the refurbished rooms in the royal apartments where Mary, Queen of Scots would have spent time.

The Edinburgh Tattoo. What a marvellous spectacle. The NZ Army Band preformed and were great but so were all the items. I would have liked to have a few more bagpipe items.

On top of Arthur's Seat. Best place to get a good view of the city.

We got to listen to Lior as part of the Fringe festival. He's and Aussie singer/songwriter that Kirst introduced us to. Made Kirstin very jealous!

Two Kiwi girls standing in Jo's yard. The bridges over the Forth are in the background. The cranes indicate where Roger's new bridge is being built.

Aberdeen

I lived in Aberdeen as a wee lad while Dad was studying at Aberdeen University. I haven't been back in the nearly 50 years since we left! Pam and I went back for a couple of nights specially to look at the old family haunts. We walked all around Aberdeen and had loads of fun reliving the past.

Just arrived at Aberdeen station. 

 

Abergeldie Road. No 71 where we lived is the top floor flat on the extreme right of the photo.

I sneaked down the side of the house and took this pic of the back yard of 71 Abergeldie Road. I can remember Mum hanging out clothes in the snow. According to Dad, the back garden looks much the same.  The red door runs up to our laundry/kitchen level.  Apparently I slid down those stairs backwards once, after toppling off my little trike.  No harm done - as far as we know?!

We had dinner in a pub nearby. Our first real Scottish meal, mashed tatties, neeps and haggis with whisky sauce, all washed down with an Irish Guinness. It was delish. 

Lots of fun was had at Duthie Park where Mum and Dad used to take us kids. Not sure if the old diesel roller was there then but I think it is slightly older than me. 

There was a brilliant winter garden in Duthie Park which we both enjoyed a lot.

The very ornate Marischal College where Dad spent a lot of his university life. The City Council uses the  buildings now. 

While wandering around we came across the tiny village of Footdee, right at the mouth of the Dee River. The houses were the tiniest we have ever seen.

This is the City Hall. Typical of the grand ornate style of the new city.