Sunday, Dec. 9th:
We felt totally refreshed after 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep!! Breakfast around the corner with a "large black coffee" (that's the name and and 'make' - it wakes up the dead and flight wary...) and 'Turkish bread' with our omelette. The city beckoned, so off we went to hit the monorail with "Paddy's Station" not far from our hotel. Around and around we went, 3 times in fact to get a good overview of the sights and finish our conversation with a lovely woman and her son Alexander (5)... Finally we got off at the City Station and went straight to the "Queen Victoria Building" (a kind of antique mall) which harbours endless shops, cafes and restaurants as well as grand Victorian architecture. The lay-out is very cleverly done: Shops are on the left of the walkways and cafe tables and chairs on the right at the railing. That way patrons have the full view of the mall in all directions and stories. In the middle they had placed a huge Christmas tree with real Swarowsky cristalls as decoration. Impressive!
Naturally we walked all around until Sigi went to strike on me and refused to go any further. Lunch was had at one of the many cafes with another "large black one" and a sandwich.
On we went to the Chinese Garden. What a great oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of this big city and right in the middle of it. A very far cry from our Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver, I have to say. At the end of our stroll through the lovely garden we sat down in the Chinese Tea House and had a pot of delicious Jasmine tea which we enjoyed on the terrace with a great view of the "Dragon Wall", weeping willows, breeding ibises and water lillies on the various ponds.
Dinner is still in the works - we have to decide where to go...
We felt totally refreshed after 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep!! Breakfast around the corner with a "large black coffee" (that's the name and and 'make' - it wakes up the dead and flight wary...) and 'Turkish bread' with our omelette. The city beckoned, so off we went to hit the monorail with "Paddy's Station" not far from our hotel. Around and around we went, 3 times in fact to get a good overview of the sights and finish our conversation with a lovely woman and her son Alexander (5)... Finally we got off at the City Station and went straight to the "Queen Victoria Building" (a kind of antique mall) which harbours endless shops, cafes and restaurants as well as grand Victorian architecture. The lay-out is very cleverly done: Shops are on the left of the walkways and cafe tables and chairs on the right at the railing. That way patrons have the full view of the mall in all directions and stories. In the middle they had placed a huge Christmas tree with real Swarowsky cristalls as decoration. Impressive!
Naturally we walked all around until Sigi went to strike on me and refused to go any further. Lunch was had at one of the many cafes with another "large black one" and a sandwich.
On we went to the Chinese Garden. What a great oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of this big city and right in the middle of it. A very far cry from our Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver, I have to say. At the end of our stroll through the lovely garden we sat down in the Chinese Tea House and had a pot of delicious Jasmine tea which we enjoyed on the terrace with a great view of the "Dragon Wall", weeping willows, breeding ibises and water lillies on the various ponds.
Dinner is still in the works - we have to decide where to go...
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