Proposal accepted and remembered

Something we did not blog or put on Facebook at the time was the fact that I proposed to Vivienne on Christmas Eve in Paris at Le Grande Colbert Restaurant , located appropriately in Rue Vivienne. Not only did Vivienne say yes, but she can remember this . She wanted to wait to tell her children on our return. She is now in a rehabilitation hospital after her stroke.

A sad end to our trip

bad news it appears now that Vivienne has suffered a stroke , probably whilst we were in Barcelona. She has been admitted to Wakefield Street Hospital Sunday morning after we went first to her GP soon after getting in from Singapore at 0630 and a CAT scan revealed the damage. Subsequent MRI etc has confirmed. She has lost some of her cognitive functioning and we can only hope she can recover. She will be at a rehabilitation facility for sometime

Last writes..

It's our last day away and we are both quite tired and somewhat exhausted after attempting to spend some of the children's inheritance over the last month. We took it easy this morning and then headed off to the spectacular Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Paid our way to go 56 floors up and go out on the observation deck. Incredible views of course and then a nice lunch at the TWG Teahouse in the Marina Bay Shoppes (their spelling). Then headed out to Changi Airport for a really easy and early checkin and await our mid evening flight and early morning arrival back home in Adelaide

Chinatown, Bugis Junction and Arab Street

Vivienne has walked her feet off today . We MRT'd to Chinatown and then Bugis and then walked through Arab Street, stopping for a cuppa, and I bought some more pashminas from Mahoco Impex at 51 Arab Street. Mabir Singh, who I met two years ago assured me that the cheapest pashminas all marked as pure cashmere or 100% Pashmina or 80% cashmere and 20% silk are not these fibres at all. They are generally cotton. He then showed me the genuine articles which feel great to the touch and light and have price to match their quality.. I really appreciated his honesty and discussion.

Quiet day in Singapore

Spend the day recharging and resting . Vivienne slept and I checked out bookstores and camera stores. Then tonight we attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of Serangoon Gardens Orchard, in our hotel. Friendly people

Snowy arrival in Helsinki..

We were snow covered as we made our way to the shuttle bus on the tarmac here. We journey to Singapore overnight, so some time to kill here.

A walk to the local market and then a tapas bar for lunch

Let the images do the talking.. Great market and then great lunch. The house special is yoghurt, smoked salmon, drizzled with truffled honey and special sauces, washed down with the house imported Belgian beer.